Nine HISD students win national Scholastic Art and Writing gold medals

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