Norman Mailer Writing Award Recognition for Three Central Grads

Photo Credit: http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/nmwa

Three recent Hinsdale Central grads received national writing recognition in the Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards.  This is widely considered the most prestigious writing award for nonfiction in high school and college.  Congratulations to Evan DeLorenzo ('13), who was a non-fiction finalist and to
Evan Lee ('13) and Abhishek Deshpande ('13) who were both semi-finalists.

English Teacher Jared Friebel

This is a great testament to the quality of student at Hinsdale Central and to the supportive, encouraging teachers in the English Department.  During their senior years, both Evans were the students of English teacher Jared Friebel in the Honors Seminar in Writing course.  Abhi was Angelique Burrell's student in the senior-level AP English Literature and Composition.   The Honors Seminar in Writing course focuses on the creation of creative non-fiction writing.  Angelique has been incorporating creative non-fiction in a course that is traditionally very analytical.

The "Judging Criteria" published at the Norman Mailer Award website demonstrates the high standards of this award:

Submissions will be read by national panels of teachers and writers. They will be judged by how well they achieve several qualities, including the artful treatment of subject matter; originality; quality of insight, image, voice, and style; artful arrangement of elements and materials; and overall aesthetic, emotional or intellectual effect.Finalists selected through this process will be submitted to a distinguished author (or panel of authors) selected by the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony, who will choosethe winning writers. Previous judges include William Kennedy, Sigrid Nunez, Colum McCann, and other accomplished authors.

Congratulations to Evan, Evan, and Abhi, along with Jared, Angelique as well as the teachers that supported them throughout their career at Hinsdale Central.

Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winner at Hinsdale Central

Congratulations to Elijah Seo ('14) who participated in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program and received the Gold Key Award for his essay "Unfilitered."

This is an impressive achievement.  According to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards website:

Each year, the Alliance partners with more than 100 visual and literary-arts organizations across the country to bring The Awards to local communities. Teens in grades 7 through 12 can apply in 28 categories of art and writing for the chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published. Submissions are juried by luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. 

In the last five years alone, students submitted nearly 900,000 original works of art and writing. 

English teacher Gina Chandler was Elijah's teacher during his junior year.  Congratulations to Elijah.