B-CC HS Writing Contest Winners

     

    Writing Contest Winners, 2009-2010

    The English department is proud to announce that seniors Mary (Lanier) Hagerty and Brandon Levy have both won Achievement Awards in Writing from the National Council of Teachers of English for 2009.  We have consistently had a winner each year that we have nominated students, and this year, we are especially fortunate to have two winners selected.  The students submitted a timed impromptu essay written under my supervision and a writing sample/portfolio of their best work.  Only eleven students from Maryland received this award, and both Brandon and Lanier are among 544 chosen nationally as outstanding writers.  Four schools in MCPS had a winner.  We were the only school in Maryland to have two winners.

     Paige Donnelly has been chosen by our department to receive the Fitzgerald Scholar Award.

     

    Fifth Annual Writing Contest Winners Are Announced, 2008-2009.

    The English Department wishes to congratulate the following students whose writing is being recognized in the Fifth Annual Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Writing Contest, sponsored jointly by the Bethesda-Chevy Chase English Department, Chips (B-CC High School’s literary-art magazine), the Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS Educational Foundation and its Advisory Board, the Writer’s Center, and the Town of Chevy Chase.

    First-place winners’ work will be published in the spring issue of Chips, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School’s award-winning literary and creative arts magazine, in May 2009. 

    All students will receive their awards at a special ceremony, at which they will read their work, from 4:00 to 5:30 PM on Monday, March 30, 2009, at the Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815.  The entire B-CC community is invited to attend the awards ceremony and reading, along with the students, their families, teachers, and friends.  We feel this contest showcases the many literary talents of our students, and we encourage everyone to begin putting together their submissions for the contest next fall!

    Poetry: 
    First Place: “Just Be Nice To Me” by Lily Karlin 
    Second Place:  “In the Canvas” by Amalia Halikias
    Honorable Mention:  “Life Support” by Simon Kamerow
      
    Short Story:
    First Place: “Waiting” by Brandon Levy  
    Second Place:  “Genevieve” by Simon Kamerow
    Honorable Mention: “Mr. and Mrs. Delaney” by Spencer Weinreich  

    Selections were screened at the school level and then sent to the Writer’s Center for judging.  The contest judges at the Writer’s Center were Rose Solari in poetry and Barbara Esstman in fiction.

    Biographical information about the judges from the Writer’s Center appears below: 

    Rose Solari is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, Orpheus in the Park, and Difficult Weather, and two chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in many journals  including Parnassus, Gargoyle, Poet Lore, The Mississippi Review, and The Potomac Review, and her poetry and prose have appeared in several anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation; Enhanced Gravity: More Fiction by Washington Area Women; and Women: Images and Realities, A Multicultural Reader. Her other honors and awards include the Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize (selected by Philip Levine) and, in 2007, her third Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist’s Grant.

    Barbara Esstman, MFA, is a National Endowment for the Arts, VCCA and Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellow and a Redbook fiction award winner, among other distinctions. Her two novels, The Other Anna and Night Ride Home, were published by Harcourt Brace and HarperCollins and are in numerous foreign editions. Both books were adapted for television by Hallmark Productions. She co-edited an anthology, A More Perfect Union, published by St. Martin's Press, and has taught extensively in universities.

     

    National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing:
           -Monica Pate, Winner of the 2008 NCTE Writing Award

     

    Fourth Annual Writing Contest Winners, 2007-2008:

    Poetry: 
    First Place:  Lily Karlin, grade 11, “Blizzard”
    Second Place:  Lila Becker, grade 12, “Requiem for Eurydice”
    Third Place: Rebecca Zweig, grade 11, “Weathervane”

    Playwriting: 
    First Place: Anthony Pape-Calabrese, grade 10, "Off the Hinges"
    Second Place: Amanda Bestor-Siegal, grade 12, "Green Eyes"
    Third Place: David Damtoft, grade 12, "Power of Prayer"

    Fiction:
    First Place:  Rebecca Zweig, grade 11, “Greetings from Oregon”
    Second Place:  Simon Kamerow, grade 10, “The Education of Abigail”
    Third Place:  Brandon Levy, grade 10, “Easy Street”

    Personal Essay:
    First Place: Eliot Gerson, grade 9, “Looking Back at Moving On"
    Second Place: Thao Nguyen, grade 12, “Brightchocolate25@yahoo.com”
    Third Place:  Amalia Haikles, grade 9, "School"

     

    Writer’s Center Contest Judges:
    Judge Ruben Jackson, Poetry
    Martin Blank, Playwriting
    Barbara Esstman, Fiction
    William O’Sullivan, Personal Essay

    Writer’s Center Assistant Director
    Sunil Freeman

    The Sponsors of the Annual Writing Contest
    The Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS Educational Foundation
    The Advisory Board to the B-CC HS Education Foundation
    The Writer’s Center
    CHIPS (B-CC’s Literary and Creative Arts Magazine)
    The Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS English Department
    The Town of Chevy Chase

    The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Writing Contest Committee:
    Rachel Gold
    Evanthia Lambrakopoulos
    CHIPS 2007-2008 Staff

     

    National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing:
           -Lamia Abdeslem, Winner of the 2007 NCTE Writing Award