Seven Hills Students Win 204 Scholastic Writing Awards

The Regional Scholastic Writing Awards recognized 116 Middle and Upper School students of The Seven Hills School with 204 awards for their work across various writing categories, including poetry, critical essay, flash fiction, short story, and personal essay.

The Scholastic Writing Competition is the oldest and largest student writing competition in the nation and more than 50 schools competed in the Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky Region. The number of awards Seven Hills received greatly exceeded other area schools, said Chair of the Upper School English Department Mark Beyreis.

“The strong results are proof Seven Hills has a culture that inspires courageous writers. They say public speaking is terrifying, but at least speech ends. Your writing is out there forever. It takes even more guts to upload something you have written for others to read,” Beyreis said.

Senior Gabrielle Walker and freshman Will Stock were named American Voices Award nominees, which are given to the top five submissions across all categories.

Seven Hills students, including two Middle Schoolers, won 27 Gold Keys, which enters them into consideration for the national awards, across all categories. Twenty of the Gold Keys were earned in the critical essay category.

“While I’m happy for all those students who earned recognition, I’m proud of every single student who entered this year,” Beyreis said, adding one section of his junior English class earned 40 awards.

Ten of the awards were earned by five Middle School students. Eighth graders Josephine LaBare and Cecilia Pohl earned Gold Keys for poetry. Pohl also won a Silver Key for poetry, along with fellow eighth grader Mia Wang, who won three Silver Keys for poetry.

“I am so proud of my eighth graders for having the courage to share their poetry and very pleased that the judges recognized their talent. We have an incredible pool of talented writers in the Middle School,” said Middle School English teacher Laura Clemens.

Clemens credited the strength of writing in the Middle School to the seventh grade writing workshop class with Tom Roth, which gives students the option of taking creative writing or journalism as eighth graders. Students also find a supportive community of writers in the Writer’s Collective club.

“All of these programs mean that by the time they are in eighth grade, they are amazing writers who see themselves as writers. These awards just confirm what we already know,” Clemens said.