Emily Wang, Gr. 9, received a gold medal for her outstanding writing through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, an 87-year-old national program that recognizes outstanding creative teenagers and offers scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors.

She will be honored June 9, 2010, at a gala celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City and may have her writing exhibited in Manhattan at the World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery June 9-25.

Wang joins some well-known figures in winning this award, including Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Redford, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, John Lithgow and Bernard Malamud. Almost 900 students from 298 schools across California submitted 2,051 pieces of writing for judging including essays, poems, articles, stories and dramatic scripts. Of California’s 160 student winners, 22 were awarded Gold Keys, the highest award, and of those, six were awarded national Gold Medals. Wang is one of the six gold medalists.

The California Writing Awards are sponsored and organized by the California Writing Project (CWP), a network of 17 university-based projects across California, and California Writes, CWP’s outreach arm to families and communities.

Since the program was founded in 1923, more than 13 million talented junior high and high school youth (grades 7-12) have participated in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and 9 million have been recognized and shared in $25 million in cash awards and college scholarships. In addition to awarding annual scholarships to top portfolio award recipients, the Alliance collaborates with colleges across the country that make an additional $3.9 million in financial aid available to national award recipients.