38 students from Rye Country Day School were honored for their outstanding original work in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, winning Gold and Silver Key designations as well as Honorable Mention.

Known as the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in Grades 7 through 12, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are judged by luminaries in the visual and literary arts. 

Congratulations, Wildcats!

*Students who are enrolled in the RCDS Middle School at the time of publication are listed with their first names and last initials.

ART AWARDS

Salvatore Bove ’26
Happiness Pending - Digital Painting, Drawing, & Collage - Silver Key

Alexa Chua ’26
Bear in a Chair - Digital Painting, Drawing, & Collage - Silver Key

Amanda Gui ’27
Weathervane - Photography - Gold Key
We’ve Got What You’re Looking For - Photography - Gold Key
Grace - Film & Animation - Silver Key

Molly Hart ’27
Flight - Film & Animation - Silver Key
Just a Light Shower - Photography - Silver Key 
Fork in the Road - Photography - Honorable Mention
Good Afternoon, Farmer Brown - Photography - Honorable Mention
Before It All Comes Crashing Down - Photography - Honorable Mention

Val He ’27
Blue Transcendent Compositional - Illustration - Silver Key
The Elephant in the Room - Ceramics & Glass - Honorable Mention

Sadie Kolodner ’28
Sway - Photography - Gold Key 
Solitude - Photography - Gold Key

Emmy Liang ’28
My Psychedelic Seahorse - Painting - Honorable Mention

Illaria Liedtke ’27
Portrait in 221 Voices - Drawing - Gold Key 
Amidst the Wreckage - Painting - Silver Key 

Catherine Liu ’28
Left at Home - Mixed Media - Gold Key

Lucas M. ’31
Last Wave - Illustration - Silver Key 

Felix Mao ’27
Just Give Me a Chance - Painting - Honorable Mention

Irena M. ’30
Where Love Lands - Painting - Silver Key 
Dive for Hope - Painting - Honorable Mention
When the World Slows Down - Drawing - Honorable Mention

Juliette Moore ’27
Stormy Sea Glass Vase - Ceramics & Glass - Honorable Mention
Hybrid Lily - Drawing - Silver Key 
Library Quiet Hours - Drawing - Honorable Mention
Fragmented Cycle of Life Collage - Experimental Photography - Gold Key 
When Blossoms Fade Collage - Experimental Photography - Silver Key 
Hints of Life - Experimental Photography- Silver Key
Sheng Jian Bao - Film & Animation - Gold Key 
Hand Folded Box Woven with Color - Graphic Design - Honorable Mention
Head Over Heels - Graphic Design - Honorable Mention
Sheng Jian Bao - Graphic Design - Honorable Mention
Snack Time, Screen Time - Photography - Gold Key 
No Frills Dining - Photography - Honorable Mention
Elephant Joy - Photography - Honorable Mention

Daphne Panie ’27
Unravel - Photography - Gold Key 
Vertical Void - Photography - Gold Key 
Aftermath - Photography - Silver Key
Nature Strikes Back - Photography - Honorable Mention
Vanishing Point - Photography - Honorable Mention
Beam of Indifference - Photography - Honorable Mention

Louis Panie '29 
Time, Suspended - Photography - Gold Key
Whiteout - Photography - Silver Key

William Zhou '29
Towards the Dawn of Life - Photography - Silver Key
The Noise of Today - Mixed Media - Honorable Mention
Going With The Flow - Photography - Honorable Mention
Branches of Infinity - Photography - Silver Key
The Death of Free Speech - Photography - Honorable Mention
Through the Gate of Light - Photography - Gold Key
Weight of the City - Photography - Honorable Mention

Makai Song ’28
Heaven’s Couture - Digital Painting, Drawing & Collage - Honorable Mention

Melody Wu ’28
The Show Must Go On - Editorial Cartoon (Herb Block Foundation) - Gold Key
Once Upon a Future Time - Editorial Cartoon (Herb Block Foundation) - Silver Key
Get Off the Line - Editorial Cartoon (Herb Block Foundation) - Silver Key
Easy Come, Easy Play - Editorial Cartoon (Herb Block Foundation) - Honorable Mention
Gladiator - Editorial Cartoon (Herb Block Foundation) - Honorable Mention

Jade Zhao ’29
Feelings I Can't Swallow - Painting - Gold Key 
The Warmth She Holds Onto  - Painting - Honorable Mention

WRITING AWARDS

Emilia Allison ’26
Together, We Optimize - Short Story - Silver Key

Simi Arora ’28
The Copper Table - Poetry - Gold Key
From Fear to Connections - Personal Essay & Memoir - Silver Key

Chloe Berg '29
Buzzfeed - Poetry - Silver Key
Magdeleina - Speculative Fiction - Silver Key
The Heart - Short Story - Honorable Mention 

Marshall Brown ’28
Marshall - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention

Aarush Dey '27
A Glacier's Memories - Poetry - Silver Key

Anoushka Dey '29
The Quiet Ache - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Alana F. ’30
The Swing Set - Poetry - Honorable Mention
The Writer - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Michael Goneos '27
Ferrous - Poetry - Gold Key
Negative Space - Poetry - Honorable Mention
Phosphorescence - Poetry - Silver Key 
Scar Tissue Has No Sweat Gland - Poetry - Silver Key

Angelina Gui ’27
The Last Flight - Poetry - Gold Key
Time in Space Unknown - Poetry - Honorable Mention

May Hakimizadeh ’27
Prologue (This Poem Was About You Before I Even Knew It Was About You) - Poetry - Silver Key
An Outdoor Wall at the Levee - Poetry - Honorable Mention
Chopping Through Silence: Culinary Defiance and Gendered Resistance in “Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies” - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention
The Half-Life of Love - Honorable Mention

Molly Hart ’27
Is That Not Human? - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Zara Khemlani ’27
Intertwined - Poetry - Silver Key

Sadie Kolodner ’28
The Fragility of Civilizations: A Discussion of the Problems That Led to the Fall of the Han Dynasty and Roman Republic - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention
Where Differences Meet - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention

Marina Leifert ’28
A Pathos Heard ’Round the Border - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention

Illaria Liedtke ’27
on the extinction of teenage girls - Poetry - Gold Key
an ode to Chang’e, the goddess of the moon - Poetry - Silver Key
in which I realize I am too late - Poetry - Silver Key
So You Want to Be a Researcher, Huh? - Personal Essay & Memoir - Silver Key
How to Lose a Mouse, a Moon, and a Mother - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention

Felix Mao ’27
In This Economy - Speculative Fiction - Honorable Mention

Juliette Moore ’27
The Language of Love - Critical Essay - Gold Key
The Struggles of Self-Identity in an Oppressive Society - Critical Essay - Gold Key
Sea Star Wasting Disease Disrupts Ocean Ecosystems - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention

Daphne Panie ’27
Glossary of the Past - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Chiara Perkins ’28
The Ivan File - Honorable Mention - Short Story
Versailles - Silver Key - Speculative Fiction
girl math - Gold Key - Poetry
User Manual for a Mixed-Race Body - Gold Key - Poetry

Olivia Pierry '29
Gone - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Ella Schwalbe '27
Do Bookstores Still Have a Place? The Strand's-98 Year Legacy Says Yes - Journalism - Honorable Mention

Alexandra Steyn ’27
How to Be a Girl in Five Steps - Poetry - Silver Key
Is a Scream Still a Scream Everywhere - Poetry - Honorable Mention
remind me… I forget - Poetry - Honorable Mention

Milin Torgalkar ’26
Fatum Invictum, Patientia Aeterna (Unconquered Fate & Lasting Patience) - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention
The Things I’ve Lost - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention
Viktor’s Frost - Short Story - Honorable Mention

Tancrede Weinstein ’27
Rubric - Poetry - Gold Key
Duérmete - Poetry - Silver Key
In the Backyard - Poetry - Silver Key
Marked by Sight - Poetry - Silver Key
How to Hold the Last Breath - Poetry - Honorable Mention
In the Eyes of the Dreamer - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention

Emma Wolff ’29
A Forever Kinda Thing - Screenplay/Script - Gold Key
I Couldn’t Be Less Sick of You If I Tried - Personal Essay & Memoir - Silver Key
15:29, 15:28, 15:27… - Speculative Fiction - Silver Key
The Antithetical of Love - Poetry - Silver Key
A Letter from the Lobotomized - Honorable Mention
I Don’t Know a Lot of Things - Poetry - Honorable Mention
We Are Only Here to Help - Screenplay & Scripts - Honorable Mention

Aiden Wu ’27
How Should We Feel About Our Nation’s Past? - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention
Savages in Heaven - Poetry - Honorable Mention
Whiteness and Power: America’s Shifting, Exclusive Definition of the White Race - Critical Essay - Honorable Mention

Jade Zhao ’29
testimony of a paintbrush - Poetry - Silver Key
Starbucks and Magnolia Lane - Personal Essay & Memoir - Honorable Mention

William Zhou '29
The Day I Lost You - Poetry - Silver Key