Eight students received awards for their essay submissions to the 2017 Chinese Language Association of Secondary Schools National Essay Contest on Jan 5.

Students had the chance of being awarded a gold, silver or honorable mention certificate. Chronicle staff writer Astor Wu ’20 and Strauss Cooperstein ’18 were granted gold awards, five students received silver awards and four earned honorable mentions.

Chinese teacher Kun Li said she encouraged students to enter so they could show off their writing skills and feel more motivated to work harder.

“I want to provide students with a bigger stage outside school where they can demonstrate their writing skills and where they can be confident of this language which they have learnt for three or four years,” says Li.

Chase Van Amburg ‘20, who received an honorable mention, said that when given the opportunity, other students should definitely enter the competition.

“Other students should absolutely write this essay,” Van Amburg said. “Not only is there no drawback, but it’s great practice in writing a foreign language as well.”