On the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail’s Springtown Road Bridge!

City writers and country scribes, take note! Two worthwhile events beg for your attendance on Saturday, May 18. Bridging the Gap, organized by Scholastic Award Gold Key-winning poet Elijah Santner, is an interactive poetry event on a beautiful bridge just outside New Paltz, NY. At 3 PM, poets will gather to converse, write verse, and more—all to benefit the Hudson Valley Writing Project’s Young Writers Program! Nature Poetry Workshops will be led by Rich Parisio, NYS River of Words Coordinator, and at 5 there’s an open mic for all!

And at 5 PM in Brooklyn, One Teen Story, a literary magazine of young adult fiction, kicks off its teen short story contest! Julie Buntin, author of “Phenomenon,” a future issue of One Teen Story, will read an excerpt from her story. Local teen writers will also be reading from their work. One Teen Story editors will be giving away copies of “Night Swimming,” last year’s contest-winning story along with a handout of short story writing tips.

We want to know! In celebration of the Scholastic Awards’ 90th anniversary year, we’re asking all of you to tell us why art and writing are important in your life. Give us your opinion here, and you could win a FREE copy of our 90th anniversary book, The Great Encouragement, which provides an in-depth look into the incredible 90-year history of the Awards and the students who have made it what it is today. You can also get a copy of The Great Encouragement by making a donation here to support the work of the Awards.

It’s hard for us to imagine a world without art and writing. They both bring out creativity like few other activities. In fact, Scholastic Awards founder Maurice R. Robinson once said that teens who produce art and writing are “acquiring something infinitely valuable – a feeling for beauty, which will color their entire lives, and the lives of those about them. There lies the great encouragement.” (Foreword to Saplings. Scholastic Publishing Company, 1928, and featured in The Great Encouragement).

We all have individual reasons for expressing ourselves creatively through art and writing, and that’s what makes each act of expression so special and unique. So tell us, why do you create or appreciate?

Enter to win a copy of The Great Encouragement now.

Caroline Brustowicz. Storm. Grade 12, Age 18. 2011 Silver Key, Painting.

Excerpted from Scholastic’s On Our Minds blog. Click here for the full post by Lia Zneimer.

It’s been six months since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses, and schools, and leaving a devastating path of destruction in its wake. The damage was severe, but from the tragedy also came inspiring stories of courage and resilience. We all respond to tragedies like Sandy in different ways: some volunteer to deliver supplies to those in need; others pledge their time to disaster-relief organizations or donate money to organizations like the Red Cross. And some respond with art or writing that beautifully encapsulates the experience itself.

This year, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, received dozens of submissions that dealt with Sandy and its aftermath. One such piece was by 12-year-old Leigh Brooks from Brooklin, ME, who received a Gold Key for Poetry. As National Poetry Month draws to a close, we thought it’d be a perfect time to share Leigh’s poem:

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy
A behemoth of a storm
Travels her slow path across the Gulf of Mexico
Intent on the juicy prize: the New England coast

Cities lie far away in the distance,
She tires of water,
She hungers for the feast of buildings
The crunchy cold concrete, the white-washed walls Read More

The Black Cloth #2 by Brannon Dorsey (Photography)

Teen writers! The Adroit Journal, founded by multiple Scholastic Awards winner Peter LaBerge, has a great opportunity for you to have your work published! Learn about their 2013 Adroit Prizes in Fiction and Verse below from Peter himself. But act fast – the deadline to submit your writing is Wednesday, May 1!

Hi! My name is Peter LaBerge. When I am not writing, I am evaluating writing—for The Adroit Journal, the print charitable literary publication that I founded in November of my sophomore year. At its foundation, The Adroit Journal offers young writers from around the world the unique opportunity not only to submit work for publication alongside established writers, but also to participate in the evaluation process themselves, as part of the journal’s staff of 52 readers and editors. Read More

Alexandra Huey. Woodland Creature (a detail). Grade 8, Age 13. 2012 Gold Medal, Digital Art. Listen to Alexandra discuss her winning work here.

Happy Earth Day! April’s Writing of the Month comes from Elijah Santner, Age 15, of New Paltz, NY, who won a Gold Key this year for his poem that celebrates the very ground we walk on, “I Believe in Dirt”. You can watch Elijah read his winning poem aloud on YouTube. Enjoy!

I was thirteen years old,
when my science teacher told me that dirt was a bad thing.
She claimed that if it were a good thing, we would call it “soil”
I was always upset about that.

What gave her the right
to label one kind of Earthly matter better than another?
I would walk into class,
My shoes heavy with mud
That felt warm and bright under my
Discount rack sneakers
and she would say
“Elijah, you can’t come in here with all that dirt.”
And I wanted to say
If only you knew
What it meant to run with
Bare feet through soft fields in the early morning,
With the earth still damp
From the dew of the dawn. Read More

Breanne Pereira. Under the Sea Driveway. Grade 12, Age 17. 2011 Silver Medal, Photography.

Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day, and we’re celebrating it with Scholastic Award-winning poems from this year! Check them out, add them to your pockets, and share them with others throughout the day. To learn more about Poem in Your Pocket and how you can get involved, visit http://www.nyc.gov/poem.

Destination
The car stops, and you leap out
without waiting for me,
too eager to begin our lifelong tradition
of running down the driveway,
tree branches snatching at our faces,
soft moss on bare feet. Read More