LHS Student Wins National Award in Poetry

Lakewood High School sophomore Grace Roberson has been named a national Gold Medal winner - the highest honor - in the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a national competition with more than 185,000 works submitted from more than 50,000 students in grades 7-12 from across the nation.

Roberson won her  Gold Medal, which represents the most outstanding work in the nation, in the Poetry category for two poems she submitted as a collection. She will be honored along with the other national winners at a ceremony May 30-June 1 in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The national winners were selected from the 1,500 that advanced from their regional competitions in January.

Entries were judged by professionals in visual and literary arts and judged on the following criteria: originality, technical skill and emergence of personal vision or voice.

This is the first time Roberson has won an award for her writing. “I was very surprised. I didn’t think I would win because so many people enter,” she said.

Roberson credits a fourth-grade teacher for opening her eyes to her writing skills, and now carries a journal with her wherever she goes. She also credits her LHS English teachers, Shane Sullivan and Jennifer Lewis, for “really encouraging my passion for writing.” Roberson said she is grateful for the different creative writing outlets offered at Lakewood High, such as the literary magazine, The Phoenix, and the Poetry Slam Club along with a Creative Writing elective she is taking.

Roberson’s mom, Heather Bise, is also grateful for the mentoring Roberson has received at LHS.

“Mr. Sullivan was a big influence on Grace her freshman year; and now as a sophomore, Ms. Lewis has taken that literary-inspiration to a new level,” Bise said. “I’m thrilled that Grace is able to share this wonderful moment in her life with her mentors—her teachers and friends at Lakewood High School. I am a very proud LHS parent.”

In addition to Roberson, seven other Lakewood High school students who were named Golden Key winners at the regional level also had their work judged at the national level.