Chelsea Middle School 8th graders Caleb Chapman, Claire King, Kolbe Hess, and Theresa Nguyen have been recognized as Promising Young Writers by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The Promising Young Writers Program represents NCTE’s commitment to early and continuing work in the development of writing. The school-based writing program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students. Schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, American schools abroad, and the Virgin Islands are eligible to nominate students.

This year, schools nominated 131 students. Of that number, 52 received the highest award, Certificates of Recognition, and 79 received Certificates of Participation. Each student submitted two pieces of writing. Two independent judges evaluated each submission holistically on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style.

Teacher Charlsie Wigley had this to say about these young writers, “They were in my English Language Arts class last school year. I reached out to them at the beginning of their 8th-grade year encouraging them to enter this program. Students wrote and revised entries about nature, including different pieces they had written in different classes over the course of their middle school years. I can’t wait to see where their writing takes them next.”

For more information about the Promising Young Writers Program, see http://www.ncte.org/awards/promising-young-writers/