New Haven Independent

Caroline Rosenstone, the Audubon Street magnet arts high school’s creative writing department chair, sends in this report:

Out of 28 students in the department, 16 have been awarded prizes and special commendations, five at the national level. The national winners share their prizes with another 20-30 other students across the country.

The operating philosophy of ACES-ECA is founded upon the idea that students best learn to achieve in the arts by working directly with professional artist-teachers recognized in their fields. The success of the Creative Writing Department and the other departments at ACES-ECA, a regional part-time magnet school of the arts known statewide for 35 years as an exemplary magnet school, testifies to the wisdom of this approach.

Interestingly, the Connecticut State Department of Education has just recommended, in its “Framework for Connecticut’s High Schools,” that students throughout the state be provided precisely the kind of direct, “authentic” experience in the specialized areas in which they demonstrate potential that ACES-ECA provides its students. “Authentic experience” means that a student who wishes to become, for example, a screenwriter, or opera singer, or dancer, has the opportunity to prepare for such a specialized career by working directly with a screenwriter, or opera singer, or dancer—just as students have been able to do at ACES-ECA from its inception.

Here is a list of the award-winners:

Annie Bass, Scholastic Writing Award national Gold-Medal finalist, poetry; Scholastic Writing Awards Gold Key, poetry and nonfiction writing portfolio; Thornton Wilder Writing Awards, first-prize, prose.

Ben Redmond, Scholastic Writing Awards, national Gold Medal finalist, poetry; Scholastic Gold Key, poetry.

Max Coviello, youngARTS competition national finalist, personal essay; county finalist, IMPAC Young Writers Awards, fiction.

Molly Herold, Scholastic Writing Awards national Silver-Medal finalist, nonfiction writing portfolio; Scholastic Writing Awards Gold Key, nonfiction writing portfolio and personal essay; IMPAC Young Writers Awards first-prize winner, New Haven County, personal essay.

Cleo O’Brien-Udry, Scholastic Writing Awards, national Silver Medal finalist, personal essay; Scholastic Writing Awards, Gold Key, personal essay and poetry.

Jane Youngberg, Scholastic Writing Awards Gold Key, personal essay and dramatic script; IMPAC Young Writers Awards county finalist; University of Buffalo Poetry Contest, honorable mention.

Charlotte Dillon, Scholastic Writing Awards Gold Key, poetry; IMPAC Young Writers Awards, personal essay.

Meg Lincoln, Scholastic Writing Awards, Gold Key, poetry; IMPAC Young Writers Awards, personal essay.

Natalie Beach, Scholastic Writing Awards, Gold Key, humor; Newpor Review Flash Fiction Contest, second-prize and honorable mention.

Simone Wolff, Shoreline Arts Alliance, first-prize, writing portfolio; IMPAC Young Writers Awards, county finalist, poetry; Guilford Poets Guild Poetry Prize finalist.

Daphne Lew, Thornton Wilder Writing Competition, first-prize, poetry.

Katy Schneider, Scholastic Writing Awards Gold Key, poetry; Thornton Wilder Writing Prize, 2nd-place, poetry.

Molly Rubin, youngARTS Awards, national level, honorable mention; IMPAC Young Writers Awards, county finalist, personal essay; Guilford Poets Guild Poetry Prize, finalist.

Una Casey, IMPAC Young Writers Awards, county finalist, poetry.

Matt Fitzpatrick, Scholastic Writing Awards, Gold Key, general writing portfolio.

Johan Sigg, Scholastic Writing Awards, Gold Key, fiction.

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