Penguin Random House | New York, 07/03/2019

Discovering And Encouraging Writing Talents

Subject: Media & Services, Society
Country: USA
Category: Prizes & Awards

600 students took part in the 2019 Creative Writing Award. In the end, five of them came out as first-place winners. Penguin Random House recently presented the awards to the recipients. The American publishing group has been searching and promoting writing talents with this program for 26 years – beyond greater New York this year for the first time.

More than 600 students from 250 high schools in 30 American states applied for the 2019 Creative Writing Award organized by Penguin Random House. Five of them have now been selected as first prize winners and will each receive a $10,000 college scholarship. It was the first time since the award was established 26 years ago that the world’s largest publishing group held the competition not only in greater New York but nationwide. The goal of the Creative Writing Award, which Penguin Random House organized in partnership with We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), remained unchanged: discovering and encouraging next-generation writing talents. The participants demonstrated their talent in all literary genres, from poetry to memoir, fiction and drama.

An independent jury evaluated each submission. The winners went through a multi-level selection process. Claire von Schilling, Penguin Random House EVP & Director of Corporate Communications and Social Responsibility, said: “The Creative Writing Awards have always been our signature program to identify, recognize and celebrate emerging writers. We look forward to welcoming the five winners to our New York offices and presenting them with their scholarships.” She thanked We Need Diverse Books for helping expand the competition nationwide. According to von Schilling, this has helped to develop a community of young writers and to promote diverse voices and stories from across the United States.