By ALANNA LEVINE
Jericho High School students prevailed in the regional Northeast Scholastic Writing Awards, taking home two Gold Key awards, one Silver Key award, and many honorable mentions.
Jericho High School’s Gold Key winners, junior Taylor Kang and freshman Sivan Komatsu, will be going on to the national competition. “I was very surprised that it won Gold Key, that it in fact won anything because it was sort of a last-minute submission,” Kang said of her winning personal memoir “Nabokov and Me.” Kang wrote the piece about her relationship with her favorite writer Vladimir Nabokov “as a sort of thank you for all of the inspiration and company he’s provided me with in the past few years.” Kang also received a Silver Key for her short story “Him And…”
Fellow Gold Key winner Sivan Komatsu wrote a heartwarming memoir entitled “Saying Goodbye.” Komatsu said, “Putting [her struggles] into words has really helped me overcome them.” Both Kang and Komatsu will have the opportunity to compete in the upcoming national competition for scholarship awards.
Jericho received five honorable mention awards for the personal memoirs of senior Estee Hong and juniors Erica Bush, Lauren Dolowich, and Kayla Schwartz. “I wrote my piece about growing up with my blankie because I’ve had it forever,” Dolowich said. “I was shocked and very happy when I received an honorable mention. It gave me confidence to continue writing.”
Kayla Schwartz brought home another honorable mention in the flash fiction category for her piece “Mirages” which is “a short story about loss and longing,” Schwartz said. “It’s about the short sporadic bursts of insanity that come hand in hand with sorrow and grief.”
“I was very happy to receive an honorable mention,” she added. “I know the writing awards are very selective and I am very honored to have been chosen.”
