Two Plano Students Earn National Writing Achievement Awards

October 2, 2009

Two Plano Senior High School students Zi-on Cheung and Sravanthi Kadali are among 544 high school seniors to be honored this fall as outstanding writers by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Recipients were chosen from among 1,783 students nominated in their junior year by their teachers from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Canada and American schools abroad.

The Achievement Awards in Writing program was established in 1957 to encourage high school students in their writing and to recognize publicly some of the best student writers in the nation.

Assessments of student writing are based on students' samples of their own best prose or verse and on impromptu themes that are written under supervision. A team of English teachers judge the writing, looking especially for writing that demonstrates effective and imaginative use of language to inform and move an audience.

Winning students and their schools receive certificates recognizing their accomplishment, and the names of the students and their schools are posted on the NCTE website. Students also receive cards highlighting their achievement to attach to their college application forms.