SAN FRANCISCO—Middle school and high school students from across San Francisco were recently recognized for their outstanding creative writing submissions to the “Young at Art” festival. The 2011 Literary Arts Awards were given out on Saturday, May 21, at the Koret Theater, De Young Museum, in Golden Gate Park.
The Young at Art festival has been working to encourage and highlight creativity in visual, literary, media, and performing arts for 25 years. Formerly known as the San Francisco Youth Arts Festival, it was created by the San Francisco Unified School District and is open to all middle schools and high schools, public and private, in the district.
The literary arts section is a recent addition, with categories for high school and middle school poetry, nonfiction, and short story, and one single, all-age category for dramatic script.
Several schools had great success in the contest, sweeping the first, second, and third place awards in their respective categories. Three middle school students from the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts California won in the short story group. Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts dominated in the high school poetry entry. And the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology swept the high school nonfiction awards.
Andrea Hart, literary arts curator, announced the local literary figures who served as judges.
“We had an especially distinguished panel of judges this year who blind-judged each category. Author Noria Jablonski judged short story and nonfiction, poet Robin Ekiss judged poetry, and director and dramaturge Jayne Wegner judged dramatic script,” she said. And each of the judges attended the ceremony and presented the awards for their category.
Jayne Wegner gave the keynote speech, offering inspiration for budding writers and insight into the life of a professional writer.
Altogether the Young at Art competition received over 2,000 entries. The graphic arts were on display for eight days in the De Young Museum. Performances were given on Friday, May 20, in the afternoon and evening. And the literary awards were presented on Saturday, May 21; excerpts of some of the winning entries were read to the audience at the ceremony.
The winning students for literary arts came from the following institutions: Abraham Lincoln High School, Adda Clevenger Junior Preparatory and Theater School for Children, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts California, Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, Ida B. Wells High School, James Lick Middle School, Lowell High School, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, and Streetside Stories.
The Young at Art festival has been working to encourage and highlight creativity in visual, literary, media, and performing arts for 25 years. Formerly known as the San Francisco Youth Arts Festival, it was created by the San Francisco Unified School District and is open to all middle schools and high schools, public and private, in the district.
The literary arts section is a recent addition, with categories for high school and middle school poetry, nonfiction, and short story, and one single, all-age category for dramatic script.
Several schools had great success in the contest, sweeping the first, second, and third place awards in their respective categories. Three middle school students from the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts California won in the short story group. Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts dominated in the high school poetry entry. And the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology swept the high school nonfiction awards.
Andrea Hart, literary arts curator, announced the local literary figures who served as judges.
“We had an especially distinguished panel of judges this year who blind-judged each category. Author Noria Jablonski judged short story and nonfiction, poet Robin Ekiss judged poetry, and director and dramaturge Jayne Wegner judged dramatic script,” she said. And each of the judges attended the ceremony and presented the awards for their category.
Jayne Wegner gave the keynote speech, offering inspiration for budding writers and insight into the life of a professional writer.
Altogether the Young at Art competition received over 2,000 entries. The graphic arts were on display for eight days in the De Young Museum. Performances were given on Friday, May 20, in the afternoon and evening. And the literary awards were presented on Saturday, May 21; excerpts of some of the winning entries were read to the audience at the ceremony.
The winning students for literary arts came from the following institutions: Abraham Lincoln High School, Adda Clevenger Junior Preparatory and Theater School for Children, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts California, Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, Ida B. Wells High School, James Lick Middle School, Lowell High School, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, and Streetside Stories.
