Photo courtesy Maxine Hurst

This ceramic pot, thrown and glazed by junior Maxine Hurst, received an honorable mention in Midwest Regional Alliance for Young Artists and Writers Contest.

Twenty-five U-High students won awards ranging from an honorable mention to a gold key in the Midwest Regional Alliance for Young Artists and Writers Contest. Gold key winners will be included in an exhibition and advance to the national competition.

Lila Coyne and Edward Park have been nominated for the American Voices Award for writing, and Reid Surmeier has been nominated for the American Vision Award for art.

The competition allows teens in grades 7-12 to submit their work in a total of 28 categories in art and writing. Students can choose to create something new for the contest, or submit something they’ve already made.

Junior Sonakshi Mutreja, who won two honorable mentions in photography, already had photos that she decided to submit.

“They were not specifically for the competition, they were just something I had,” Sonakshi said. “I had all these pictures, so why not.”

Sonakshi enjoys photography as a hobby, and plans to continue whether or not she’ll participate in the competition next year.

“Regardless of the results of the competition, I like photography and was going to continue doing it, but it’s always great to hear good feedback about your work,” Sonakshi said.

Sophomore Daniel Wu enjoyed the writing process for his poetry piece, which he wrote for the competition and will revise for the national contest.

“I was honestly a little shocked when I got a gold key, but I’m very delighted that I got that award, so I’m hoping that maybe I can win something,” he said.

The competition motivated Daniel to continue writing, and potentially write more pieces for the 2025 competition since he only submitted one this year.

“I think maybe over the summer I could work on a portfolio, ” Daniel said. “I think winning this award made me more inspired to write.” 

U-High students recognized for writing are:

• Poppy Beiser, silver key in personal essay and memoir
• Lucie Bhatoey-Bertrand, silver key in personal essay and memoir 
• Camila Bravo, silver key in poetry 
• Victor Chen, silver key in poetry; honorable mention in critical essay
• Lila Coyne, two silver keys and five honorable mentions in poetry; silver key and gold key in personal essay and memoir; silver key in critical essay; gold key in flash fiction
• Lucia Dumitrescu, silver key in short story 
• Hana Javed, silver key and honorable mention in poetry; two honorable mentions in short story
• Elias Laurence, silver key in flash fiction 
• Marlena Leuz, silver key in personal essay and memoir 
• Ayush Mishra, honorable mention in personal essay and memoir; gold key and two honorable mentions in poetry 
• Maurice Neuman, silver key in personal essay and memoir
• Edward Park, gold key in short story 
• Hayla Shah, honorable mention in flash fiction 
• Sygne Stole, honorable mention in personal essay and memoir; silver key in poetry 
• Reid Surmeier, honorable mention in personal essay and memoir 
• Lisa Tao, honorable mention in personal essay and memoir 
• Sahana Unni, honorable mention in short story; honorable mention in poetry
• Nadia Washington, honorable mention in poetry 
• Sasha Watson, silver key in poetry; silver key in short story
• Ailani Wong, honorable mention in personal essay and memoir 
• Daniel Wu, gold key in poetry

U-High students recognized for art are:

• Eliza Dearing, gold key in editorial cartoon 
• Claire Dong, silver key in comic art 
• Eve Dyson, honorable mention in drawing and illustration 
• Maxine Hurst, honorable mention in ceramics 
• Sonakshi Mutreja, two honorable mentions in photography 
• Sygne Stole, silver key for drawing 
• Reid Surmeier, silver key for painting; silver key and gold key for design