MANSFIELD, PA— The Endless Mountains Writing Project (EMWP) Mansfield University recently hosted a team of local teachers and literacy-minded community members who acted as jurors for the Scholastic Arts and Writing Contest. 
Nearly 61,000 submissions were received nationally in the 2018 Scholastic Awards, which is the longest running national competition of its kind for middle and high school students.
The 16 jurors for the local EMWP team were Nancy Bair, Belinda Barnes, Bobbi Button, Kasey Coolidge, Julie Cooper, Dick Heyler, Alyssa Higham, Lisa Higham, Matt Holmes, Nate Irving, Melissa Morral, Robin Slabey, Laurel Smith, Jane Spohn, Bobbi VanDruff and Nanci Werner-Burke.
Each person read and scored over 50 different entries from categories such as critical essays, dramatic script, flash fiction, humor, journalism, novels, personal essay & memoirs, poetry, science fiction & fantasy, and short stories.
Gold Key awarded works will advance to national adjudication in New York City and will be considered for National Awards, which will be published the Alliance for Art and Writing’s National Catalog and The Best Teen Writing anthology.
Aspiring writers and artists in middle and high school, and their teachers, can find out more information about the awards and scholarships that are available through Scholastic and the Alliance for Art and Writing’s through the website for the contest at artandwriting.org/