A record nine Houston Independent School District students from six campuses won prestigious national gold medals in the 2020 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
This is the first time HISD has had nine national gold medal winners in a single year. The winners competed against more than 80,000 students who submitted nearly 230,000 works of art and writing to the Scholastic Awards. Only 2,000 entries received national medals.
HISD also had dozens of students who won Scholastic regional Gold Key Awards for art and writing.
Scholastic is a publisher of textbooks and education materials. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are the nation’s longest running and most prestigious recognition program for creative student artists and writers.
“HISD’s fine arts teachers believe that every student is an emerging artist. Now Scholastic, a world-renowned organization, is recognizing the creative talents of our students who are learning from some of the best teachers in America,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said.
By winning the national awards, HISD students join an elite group of artists and writers, including Andy Warhol, Ken Burns and Stephen King, who won Scholastic Awards when they were teens.
The nine national winners are:
Name Grade Category Campus
Brooke Ferrell 11 Science Fiction & Fantasy Carnegie Vanguard
Kechi Mbah 11 Poetry Carnegie Vanguard
Anna Parker 8 Poetry Lanier Middle School
Lakshmi Sunder 10 Short Story Kinder HSPVA
Chloe Beaudreau 9 Photography Carnegie Vanguard
Sadie Burlton 12 Photography Lamar High School
Humza Hanif 11 Photography Carnegie Vanguard
Enya Krathaus 8 Mixed Media Hogg Middle School
Danny Zuniga Zarat 12 Photography Bellaire High School