Grade 8 students Kathy Fang and Amla Rashingkar received certificates of recognition from the Promising Young Writers Program, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Fang and Rashingkar were among just 122 eighth graders in the United States and Canada who received this recognition for superior writing. Papers were judged for content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development and style.

“This contest was an opportunity for me to see if my voice in writing is eloquent enough to be heard. The results of the contest have proven the saying ‘be yourself’ to be true; by expressing my thoughts and testing my creativity, I have emerged as a winner,” said Fang.

Rashingkar added that the competition really helped push her limits as a writer. “Moreover, I now can say I am one of the top writers in the nation, and the win inspired me to keep writing,” she said.

The Promising Young Writers program represents NCTE’s commitment to early and continuing work in the development of writing. The school-based writing program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize students’ writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.

Students, who must be nominated for the honor by their teachers, are required to submit a best writing sample in response to a themed topic.