On Jan. 28, the results of over 100,000 students’ art and writing works were revealed with 27 Laboratory Schools middle and high school students receiving awards in the 2026 Chicago Scholastic Awards for art and writing, and three U-High students receiving the highest honors.
Orlie Weitzman and Daniel Wu are candidates for the American Voices award, one of the highest in the scholastic competition for writing. Lyla Ruiz de Luzuriaga is a candidate for the American Vision award, the highest for art. Gold key winners, which will be released March 25, may be considered for national awards.
Orlie and other journalism students who won awards were not involved in the writing or editing of this story.
Students submit entries themselves to this contest. Junior Lyla Ruiz de Luzuriaga, who won a gold and a silver in the illustration category, would encourage other students to submit, even if they are uncertain of their own work.
“You never know who’s going to see your art and who’s going to be like, ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool!’ and connect with you, but it’s really important that you take that first step and put yourself out there,” Lyla said.
Victoria Syverson, a junior who won a silver in poetry and an honorable mention in short story, was happy that she had a way to practice writing and receive proper criticism.
“I’ve actually had an interest in writing for a long time,” Victoria said, “and I wanted to do something with my hobby. I thought this was the perfect opportunity.”
A list of award winners is below.
Writing
Junior Clasine Bernstein: gold, personal essay & memoir
Junior Lila Coyne: honorable mention, personal essay & memoir; and honorable mention, critical essay
Sophomore Agnes Flatley: silver, poetry
Sophomore Oliver Halbach: gold, critical essay
Ninth grader Lily Headley: honorable mention, poetry
Junior Mia Lane: honorable mention, short story
Junior Austin Lok: gold, speculative fiction
8th grader Akhila Sriharsha: honorable mention, flash fiction
Junior Jessica Stainton-Simmons: honorable mention, critical essay; and honorable mention, poetry
Junior Victoria Syverson: silver, poetry; and honorable mention, short story
Junior Orlie Weitzman: gold, journalism; silver, short story; three honorable mentions, journalism; and honorable mention, poetry.
Senior Daniel Wu: gold, poetry; two silvers, poetry; two honorable mentions, poetry; silver, critical essay
Senior Sophia Zheng: honorable mention, poetry
Art
Sophomore Tala Ardati: honorable mention, photography
Junior Suna Choi-Hortacsu: silver, comic art; and honorable mention, comic art
Junior Kat Chung: honorable mention, ceramics
Ninth grader Jaya De Jeu: two honorable mentions, photography
Junior Viren de Jeu: silver, photo; three honorable mentions, photography
Ninth grader Clare Dong: gold, comic art
Junior Mardi Gunning: honorable mention, comic art; and honorable mention, painting
Junior Jonas Hatcher: honorable mention, painting
Senior Isabella Huang: honorable mention, painting
Junior Eva Neves: gold, comic art
Ninth grader Sophia Rentz: honorable mention, mixed media
Junior Lyla Ruiz de Luzuriaga: gold, illustration; and silver, illustration
Sophomore Sacha Twemlow: silver, film
Eight grader Sasha Zaidi: honorable mention, photography
