Berkeley Students Garner Top Honors in National Writing Awards

Since 1992, Berkeley students have earned numerous national writing awards and have consistently received multiple regional awards from the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards hosted annually by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. This year was no different for the talented group of students from the school’s Middle and Upper Divisions. In all, Berkeley garnered 14 writing awards that were recognized in four award categories ranging from “Honorable Mention” to “American Visions Nominee” in the writing competition. The competition is widely regarded as the most distinguished of its kind in identifying the country’s top literary talents.
 
The award total distinguishes Berkeley as the top earning school in Hillsborough County out of 16 Tampa Bay schools that participated in the Writing category. Students in the Middle and Upper Divisions combined for an impressive 7 Gold Keys (including 3 American Voices Nominees), 4 Silver Keys, and 3 Honorable Mentions. Gold Key awards are considered the very best works submitted and are automatically considered for national recognition.
 
Each year, an increasing number of students from grades 7-12 participate in the program and become a part of an impressive community of young writers and artists, filmmakers and photographers, poets and sculptors, along with countless educators who support and encourage the creative process.
 
Congratulations to the following Berkeley writers who were recognized this year:
Gold Keys
Makayla Doyle (humor) – “Slumber Party”
Hollis Grimsley (novel writing) – Marauder 
Aryana Makati (critical essay) – “Double Consciousness in Black Communities” *American Voices Nominee 
Edward Sieh (personal essay and memoir) – “The Goldfish” *American Voices Nominee 
Annabel Stifler (poetry) – “Beyond the Bougainvilleas”
Annabel Stifler (flash fiction) – “Aftermath” *American Voices Nominee 
Sophia Vasiloudes (poetry) – “Court Proceedings from Room C510”
 
Silver Keys
Abbey Dempsey (personal essay and memoir) – “Life Through Mama’s Eyes”
Mya LaMarr (poetry) – “Seeds”
Annabel Stifler (personal essay and memoir) – “Mangoes and Other Exotic Fruit”
Arjun Tummala (poetry) – “We’re From”
 
Honorable Mentions
Jess Agran (poetry) – “Jess”
William LeBeau (flash fiction) – “William”
Jess Agran (poetry) – “Jess”
 
Since its founding, the Awards have established an amazing track record for identifying the early promise of our nation’s most accomplished and prolific creative leaders. The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers lists among its distinguished alumni artists Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, Cy Twombly, Robert Indiana, Kay WalkingStick, and John Baldessari; writers Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Maya Goldberg, and Joyce Carol Oates; photographer Richard Avedon (who won for poetry); actors Frances Farmer, Robert Redford, Alan Arkin, and John Lithgow; and filmmakers Stan Brakhage, Ken Burns, and Richard Linklater.
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Founded in 1960, Berkeley is an independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory day school located in Tampa, FL, for boys and girls in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12. Approximately 1,400 students gather here from the greater Tampa Bay area to form ONE Berkeley.