Rivers Students Honored in 2024-25 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of Massachusetts
At Rivers, students have the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of creative outlets, from writing to visual arts. This creativity was recognized when the Massachusetts results of the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition were announced on January 29. Competing at a high level in this prestigious program, Rivers students created memorable works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Thirty-nine works of visual art by Rivers students were honored this year, along with five pieces garnering awards in the writing categories.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented each year by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission, according to its website, is to “identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent.” The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, founded in 1923, are the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious arts recognition program for creative high school and middle school students.
“It is fantastic for our students to have the opportunity to submit their work to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards,” said Tim Clark, Visual Art department chair. “The process of creating, selecting, and entering their art and writing is a meaningful step in claiming that their work is worthy of being shared with the world. It is especially exciting that so many of our students–from both Middle and Upper School, across various media–received well-deserved recognition.”
English department Chair Mary Mertsch praised the students recognized for their writing accomplishments. “We are so proud of Eleanor, Zimon, Joyce, and Sloane—and of all of our students who chose to submit their writing to Scholastic,” she said. “Writing makes us human, and to put one's creative work out there for others to read is both vulnerable and brave. We hope that all of our students will keep writing and sharing their own unique voices with the world beyond Rivers.” The English department does not require students to submit, as Mertsch explained, “We admire the initiative our students took in writing and then submitting their work for consideration.”
A Gold Key art exhibition will take place March 15-22 at the Tufts University campus at Breed Memorial Hall. The Award Ceremony will be on March 16 at Cohen Auditorium in the Aidekman Arts Center at Tufts.
Scholastic Gold Key Winners:
Lucy Bowers ’29, Editorial Cartoon (two awards)
Molly Hazard ’26, Ceramics & Glass
Justin Jang ‘25, Ceramics & Glass
Lilly Liebhoff ’26, Ceramics & Glass
Sloane Partlan ’27, Critical Essay
Braxton Seale ’27, Ceramics & Glass
Owen Webster ’29, Photography
Scholastic Silver Key Winners:
Nolan Carlstrom ’26, Ceramics & Glass
Kyra Coggin ’26, Photography
Joyce Do ’25, Personal Essay
Eleanor Leiva ’29, Short Story
Zimon Li ’26, Ceramics & Glass
Nicole Paéz Peñaloza ’28, Photography
Meaghan Richards ’28, Sculpture
Abigail Valente ’28, Sculpture
Scholastic Honorable Mention Winners:
Aurelio Better Piermarini ’29, Editorial Cartoon
Kyra Coggin ’26, Photography
Tess Feinberg ’29, Editorial Cartoon and Photography (two awards)
Benjamin Finard ’29, Editorial Cartoon
Sophia Gao ’28, Mixed Media and Drawing & Illustration (two awards)
Sloan Giangrasso ’29, Photography
Ulrika Karlsson ’27, Photography (two awards)
Derick Katz ’29, Photography
Alexander Kyner ’25, Comic Art
Noelle Lee ’26, Mixed Media, Painting, Film & Animation, and Printmaking (four awards)
Eleanor Leiva ’29, Photography
Zimon Li ’26, Poetry (two awards) and Ceramics & Glass
Liv Martin ’26, Ceramics & Glass
Milo Peña ’29, Editorial Cartoon
Julia Poe ’29, Photography
Miles Poindexter ’29, Photography
Noah Previtera ’29, Photography
Maddie Saladino ’29, Editorial Cartoon
Josephine Stein ’27, Printmaking
Jackson Walker ’29, Photography
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