By Candice Navi
Melanie Chan â12, Maddie Lear â13 and Jack Mankiewicz â09 won national gold and silver awards in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition.
Learâs photo, “True,” is a close up of Zelda Wengrod â13 taken at the Santa Monica Pier.
“Her expression is wise, but the photo brings on a kind of intense serious feeling, like sheâs somehow in pain,” Lear said.
All submissions were either sent by mail or uploaded onto Ovationtv.com, which allows all the artists to see and comment on each othersâ photos and artistic works of different mediums from students across the country.
“Itâs like MySpace or Facebook where they comment on your work and request to be your friend,” Lear said.
Chan received a gold award for her poem, “Treacherous Steps,” which personifies the dangers of the ocean.
For Chan, the submission process was fairly simple compared to the visual artsâ process.
“We just had to submit our poem online at the scholastic website and they announced about two months back who the keys were,” said Chan. “The people who got gold keys advanced to be considered for national awards.”
Jack Mankiewicz â09 won a silver award for his play “Revelation,” which is about one manâs revelations over the course of the day.
“All these revelations are projected on the screen behind him,” Mankiewicz said. “He first doesnât want to go to college and then he decides he doesnât want to be with his girlfriend.”
Of the 140,000 people who originally submitted pieces to the contest, only 1,000 got national awards. A national ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 4 will recognize award-winning students.
