The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is a nonprofit organization presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. Their main goal is to give students a chance to showcase their astounding work in art and literature to the world. The Awards give teens recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarship opportunities. From 28 categories to choose from, teens ages 13 and up can apply for this prestigious program with a teacher sponsor.

Glenbard West senior Amelia Boeh earned three awards from the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.  She earned recognition in the categories of short story, science fiction/fantasy, and flash fiction. Amelia said her participation in this competition will assist her when applying for colleges and jobs in the pursuit of a future career in writing. This competition allowed her to “learn much about herself as a writer and find her own style.”

Amelia says she loves writing and is taking four English classes this year: Creative Writing, Independent Literature, AP English Literature, and AP Research. She says these classes were a “great backing for her.”  When asked about her strengths as a writer, Amelia says, “I love the brainstorming aspect of story writing, although it can be difficult at times. For me, ending a story is much easier than starting it, and I find that oftentimes the ending is the first thing I write. In a way, the ending is my starting point.” During times of frustration, she often relates to a quote by Michael Moorcock, an English writer and musician, saying, “I think of myself as a bad writer with big ideas, but I’d rather be that than a big writer with bad ideas.”

Looking further into Amelia’s contest experience, Amelia said Mr. Wiersum was her greatest ally in achieving these awards. He was her mentor throughout the process and helped a lot with providing inspiration, editing, support, and deadlines. According to  Mr. Wiersum, Amelia has always been an outstanding student and writer from the beginning. He says “her introductory assignment and first short story were so fresh, so full of voice.  In fact, I found her writing so funny, I had to share it with Mrs. Wiersum.”

Advice Amelia gives to aspiring writers or anyone who may want to enter similar competitions is “needing the [motivation] to write” and doing research by reading winning entries.  Mr. Wiersum hopes to “encourage more Hilltoppers to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity.  Glenbard West has always, in my memory, been a school that values writing.”