Students win national silver medals in writing awards

Three Fox Chapel Area School District students were named national winners in the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In the writing portion of the national contest, Fox Chapel Area High School 2024-25 freshman Eliana Wellman won a Silver Medal for her story “The Prankster” in the humor category. Dorseyville Middle School 2024-25 eighth-graders Kai Galyardt won a Silver Medal for her story “Things That Writhe” in the flash fiction category, and Celestial Hou won a Silver Medal for her story “The Visitor in the Dark,” also in the flash fiction category.

This year, more than 310,000 works of art and writing were submitted by students in grades 7-12 through regional contests. Prior to being named national winners, Eliana, Kai and Celestial were named Gold Key winners in the 2025 Pittsburgh Region of the Scholastic Writing Awards. Less than 2,900 received national Gold or Silver Medals in art and writing, and only the top 1% of all entries earn national recognition. At the national level, the works of art and writing were judged by luminaries of the literary and visual arts worlds, and jurors look for works that exemplify the awards’ core values of originality, skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.

A celebration of all national medalists was held June 11 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards continues to be the nation’s longest-running scholarship and recognition program for creative teens.