Two students from North High School have been announced as winners in the National Writing Award competition sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Senior Nina Zar is the recipient of the top award for her work, “Contemporary Iranian Art: A Conduit of Intersectional Self-Expression,” and junior Katherine Zhao is one of four runners-up for her work, “Splintered Calligraphy: Epitaphs of Deferred Dreams.”

This writing opportunity for high school juniors and seniors was presented by NCTE in partnership with the National Humanities Alliance. The theme, “The Humanities and a Freer Tomorrow,” is based on the National Endowment for the Humanities’ 2023 Jefferson Lecture. Students were prompted to write about an under-examined object of the humanities that serves as a personal lodestar for how to step into a freer tomorrow.

As winners of this national competition, Nina and Katherine will receive monetary prizes and excerpts of their works will be published by NCTE. Their nominating teachers are Edward Baluyut and Kieran Griffin, English teachers in the North High Community School program.