The Allience for Young Artist and Writers Scholastic Award is a Nation wide competition where students from all over the country can enter their pieces of writing in hopes of winning on a regional or even national level. About 185,000 students in the United States entered the contest including South High Junior, Elena Anderson.
When South High Junior, Elena Anderson was looking online for scholarships, she came across a writing contest where teens from around the Nation could enter and possibly win money for college. Anderson stated that “The more I looked into it [the contest] the more I liked it.
Anderson wrote an original story and placed first in the Midwest, giving her the regional gold. Anderson said that “I found out I won in the end of Fall.” The winner of each regional contest were able to compete in the national contest. Anderson was one of 1,000 students that were admitted into the National contest
Anderson submitted a poem that she wrote which won her a National Silver Award. She expressed that “It really was an honor.” Anderson received help entering the contest from Vicki Mickelson. Mickelson, who teaches 9th grade English for liberal arts students had Anderson in her freshman year of high school. “I knew she had the talent and the desire” stated Mickelson. “Desire is the most important thing.”
Mickelson helped Anderson with editing her work stating that “We would always tweak [The writing]”. Along with helping Anderson with this contest, Mickelson has helped her with other writing contest too.
According to Mickeson, Anderson “started writing when she was very young.” She would write short stories and poems which were her favorite types of writing.
Before this recent award, Anderson had won other awards in local contests. She has won the Viva City Poetry Contest, an essay contests from the Minneapolis City Council and Three Sixty Newspaper. She has also won a regional spoken word contest. Anderson admitts that “it is nice to be recognized for something that your really passionate about.”
