GOLD KEYS:
Gold Key works are automatically considered for national recognition.

• Rowan Hilden, Short Story Sunday
• Addy Miller, Poetry Wingtips

SILVER KEYS:

• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Girl, Girl, Girl.
• Rowan Hilden, Dramatic Script Cabinets
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry mattress
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Dragonflies in the Cosmos
• Addy Miller, Science Fiction & Fantasy Growing Pains
• Addy Miller, Poetry Lilith

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Jae Blondo, Personal Essay & Memoir 10 Commandments On How To Go To Church
• Rowan Hilden, Flash Fiction Poetry Club
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Never Slow Down Not Ever
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Easy Now
• Rowan Hilden, Humor Toelantis
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Midas Touch
• Rowan Hilden, Poetry Breath Taken At Last
• Addy Miller, Science Fiction & Fantasy Salt and Iron
• Addy Miller, Science Fiction & Fantasy The Witch and the Wallflower
• Addy Miller, Poetry even orpheus could not find me
• Addy Miller, Portfolio Category (Writing) Strings of Fantasy
• Addy Miller, Portfolio Category (Writing) How Far Does my Love Go?

Rowan Hilden (Literary Arts 2024) said, “Submitting to Scholastic was such a cool opportunity to get my work out there. As a young writer, any kind of recognition is pretty life changing. It was so surprising to see the awards! It was really encouraging and made me feel like my work deserved to be read. I’m excited to pursue more Creative Writing at Hamline this fall!” Hilden received awards for several pieces, including her Gold Key short story, Sunday, linked below.

Addy Miller (Literary Arts 2024) said, “Submitting pieces to Scholastic was not an easy task. The website was new to me, and frustrating to navigate. But I managed to submit a handful of pieces I was proud of. And the realization that these narratives were important to me made submitting worthwhile. I am proud of every passage I submitted, even the ones that did not win. That being said, seeing the amount of awards I did win was a huge motivator. I have been struggling with writer’s block for a while now, and seeing that there are people out there who like my writing and the emotion I pour into it acts as a reminder of what writing means to me. It is a reflection of everything I have experienced, and more.” Miller received awards for several pieces, including her Gold Key poem, Wingtips, below. The second stanza of the poem is loosely based off of imagery from a painting by Jumanna Elhawary (Visual Arts 2024) titled, “Human Connection.”

late at night
i hear the whispers
of ivy tendrils
as the moon’s light
coaxes my mind
from my body

the stars float
like jellyfish
in a vast sea
and i wonder
what it would take
to join them

how many
prayers would
the angels reject
and how many
wings would i
burn in the
sun’s glow to try
and reach them?

if i were
icarus with
freedom at
my fingertips
i would relish
the feeling
of burning wax
as it traced
melting scars
down my back
and left me
plummeting

because then,
in the wind’s
embrace, i would find
solace in the
knowledge that
my life is mine own

and when i
crashed into the
starving waves they
would welcome
me, a child of
salt and tears 

LET US IN
they would screech
as the last
bit of humanity
left me to
slice at the
wounds i opened
in your name

if only i was
pretty like
comet showers
painting Heaven
with murals of
gold thread,
so i would not
have to embroider
my scars to
reflect the
halo i placed
on your head

OH MUSE
please don’t leave
me where
the warmth
cannot find
my aching bones

and where my
skeletons
lay buried
in the soil
i tilled with
bleeding palms

you see,
digging graves
comes easy to
those who
crave the
feeling of
dirt beneath
their nails 

because it is
easier to wish
on fireflies
in the gloom
of summer nights
than to find
mercy in
Artemis
and use false
hope to
pray by
candlelight