Latin Celebrates Our Talented Writers

The Upper School English Department and Latin Arts Association sponsored a luncheon this past week in Alumni Hall to celebrate the 20th year of Charlotte Latin School’s participation in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the 100th year of the competition. The 2022 and 2023 winners were recognized at the luncheon.

Latin students consistently win recognition in the competition for our region, which includes participating independent and public schools in all Eastern states. A panel of professional judges reviews student submissions for originality, skill, personal vision, and voice, with the top percent of entries earning awards. Gold Key awards, the highest award level, move on to the national championship. 

More than 100,000 students submit over 260,000 works for consideration. Less than 2,000 works receive a National Medal, which places our Charlotte Latin writers in the top 1% of all submissions nationwide. 

It is an honor that our students are recognized at the regional and national levels of competition every year. Our national medal winners are published on the artandwriting.org website. Writing by alumni Jane Wester ‘13 and Rae Hargrave ‘15 can be read in Scholastic’s highly selective Best Teen Writing, available in our US Library.  

We are Hawk-proud of our celebrated student writers. 

View the Luncheon Slide Show

National Medals

2022 NATIONAL AMERICAN VOICES MEDAL

Mia Zottoli. Critical Essay. “Collective Ignorance: Why Schools Can No Longer Ignore LGBTQ+ Topics”

2022 NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Understand”

Mia Zottoli. Critical Essay. “Collective Ignorance: Why Schools Can No Longer Ignore LGBTQ+ Topics”

2022 NATIONAL SILVER MEDAL

Kelsey Sciacca. Flash Fiction. “Still There.”

2023 NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL

Leslie Osorio. Personal Essay & Memoir. “How to Become a Child Language Broker”

2023 NATIONAL SILVER MEDAL

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “A Collection of Regrets (Eleven Things She Once Hated About Herself)”

 

2023 Gold Keys

Grace Finn. Personal Essay & Memoir. “I’m Alive (But)”

Cameron Hutchinson. Personal Essay & Memoir. “The Balance to Stay Sunny”

Sydney Lawrence. Poetry. “Echo”

Evan Li. Critical Essay. “Strange Bodies: A Biomythography of Queer Asians In and

Beyond the United States”

Leslie Osorio. Personal Essay & Memoir. “How to Become a Child Language Broker”

Jackie Rao. Poetry. “summer in december”

Nora White. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Plastic Bags”

Isabel Yang. Poetry. “Sunday Evening Errands”

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “A Collection of Regrets (Eleven Things She Once 

Hated About Herself)”

Mia Zottoli. Flash Fiction. “The Dream House”

 

Special Awards & Gold Keys

2022 ADAMS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BILLBOARD AWARDS

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Understand”
 

2022 AMERICAN VOICES 

Lynn Zhao. Persona Essay & Memoir. “Understand”

Mia Zottoli. Critical Essay. “Collective Ignorance: Why Schools Can No Longer Ignore LGBTQ+ Topics”
 

2022 GOLD KEYS 

Evan Li. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Roses on the Shore”   

Kelsey Sciacca. Flash Fiction. “Still There.”                            

Olivia Warren.  Dramatic Script. “Anne and Christine”

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Understand”

Mia Zottoli. Critical Essay. “Collective Ignorance: Why Schools Can No Longer Ignore LGBTQ+ Topics”
 

Silver Keys

2022 SILVER KEYS 

Claire Addison. Poetry, “Let Girls Be Girls”

Jaya Iyer, Journalism. “Murder: Is this the New Quarantine Obsession?”

Evan Li. Personal Essay & Memoir. “An Ekphrastic for Asian Melancholia”

—. Poetry. “Roy Cohn”

Elaine Tang. Science Fiction & Fantasy. “In the Sand”

Edward Yang. Critical Essay. “A Civil Rights Teacher: Peter Weir’s Allegorical Film Against Servitude”

 

2023 SILVER KEYS

Gabriel Carpenter. Poetry. Melodies of the Tides: "The Black Bag Floating in the Atlantic" 

& "A Dive to the Moskva"

Sophia Cartafalsa. Poetry. Peruvian Pilgrimage From Daughter To Mom: “Her Walk Home In Peru" & "Her Canyon Views In America"

Mia Zottoli. Writing Portfolio. The Invisibles

Anish Thota. Critical Essay. “Divided We Stand”


2023 Honorable Mentions
 

Ramona Cigler. Poetry. “13”

Holt Daniels. Critical Essay. “Agency to Emancipation: The Triumph of Slave Narratives”

Samora Elam. Poetry. “Same Moon, Same Sun. The Peak of Realization”

Zander Hooper. Poetry. “Just Another . . .”

Caroline Howley. Poetry. “Solomia's Pirouette”

Joy Lokas. Critical Essay. “Free from Oppressive Servitude: Weir’s Portrayal of a Transition into Romanticism”

Ian Provencher. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Ski Racing: A Learning Experience”

Kelsey Sciacca. Critical Essay. “Endless Night: Elie Wiesel’s Rebuke of Hate”

Vanathi Shanmuganathan. Poetry. Unsent Letters to Father: "Dear Appa," "Memento," & "The Sky's Grief"

Isabel Yang. Flash Fiction. “In the Bathroom”—. Poetry. “Off the Makapu’u Coast”

Lynn Zhao. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Clench”

—. Personal Essay & Memoir. “I Dream of Escaping Racing Thoughts and Silent Chaos, If Only to Leap Into the Arms of Reality”

Mia Zottoli. Critical Essay. “An Ode to Femininity”—. Dramatic Script. “Entrapment”—. Short Story. “Fairest”  

2022 Honorable Mentions

Sam Alexander. Critical Essay. “Transcending the Summit: Krakauer's Exploration of Seeking Clarity Through Climbing”

Mayes Fisher. Flash Fiction. “From Cook to Warrior”

Hope Gottschling. Humor. “An Experiment in Love”

Helen Hurden. Personal Essay & Memoir. “Yosemite: A Journey Into Humanity”

McClain Marshall. Critical Essay. “Romanticism Ablazed: Comparing Works of Bryant and Cole to Uncover the Sublime”

Neesa Phadke. Poetry. “World War I - Lived Three Times”

Jacob Snyder. Poetry. “The Fifth of July”

Gabe Stein. Poetry. An American Portfolio: “Winter on the Lakeshore,” “Photograph of My Father as a Boy,” “A Flag”

James Van Nort. Critical Essay. “Symbolism and Similarities in ‘To a Waterfowl’ and Above the Clouds at Sunrise”

Mia Zottoli. Journalism. “Art Thou a Man? A Modern Take on a Shakespearean Classic”

—. Flash Fiction. “Binary”

—. Dramatic Script. “Her Last Day on Earth”