Welcome to the 2020 New York City Region Gold Key Virtual Exhibition! Thanks to the boundless power of technology we are able to share with you the Gold Key-winning works in a gallery you can view at home. We hope you take the time to browse through all of the works that compelled our art and writing jurors. These works grappled with ideas of breakage and solitude, of grief and triumph, of chaos and precision. We thank you for your authenticity artists and writers, and we thank you for your creative vision and voices!
Browse through the 2020 Gold Key Award-winning works! Use the search bar on the left to search for writing works by student name, school, or category.
| Name | Category | Work Title & Link |
| Samuel Ahn | Poetry | A poem for Umma, my mother; Ode to Boston Market |
| Ela Alster | Personal Essay & Memoir | Ela, Ela Alster. There’s a Carola and a Shapiro in Between, but That’s a Whole Other Story for an Entirely Different Day. |
| Ashley Amend-Thomas | Critical Essay | Who Are Women: An Analysis of Feminism in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird |
| Sophie Askanase | Flash Fiction | The M Train |
| Adithi Attada | Personal Essay & Memoir | We Walked Through |
| Yilan Batista | Poetry | We Deserted the Temples, then We Kissed Them. |
| Caroline Berk | Journalism | Desmond Naples Instills Boundless Hope in Today’s Youth |
| Daniel Biro | Short Story | A Good Job Is Hard to Find |
| Anna Bodzin | Dramatic Script | The Secrets of Planet Theseus |
| Ritvik Bordia | Poetry | The Unholy Soul |
| Ryan Bose-Roy | Personal Essay & Memoir | Guilt |
| Ryan Bose-Roy | Personal Essay & Memoir | How to cut a Date |
| Frances Brewster | Personal Essay & Memoir | Do’s and Don’ts for Your First Relationship |
| Noa Brown | Personal Essay & Memoir | 9 and Under |
| Noa Brown | Critical Essay | Inch by Inch: the Making of Human Atrocity |
| Petra Brusiloff | Short Story | Miss Interpretation |
| Lyla Forest Butler | Short Story | The Woman in the Woods |
| Genesis Cespedes | Poetry | Free |
| Iris Chang | Poetry | Fried Rice |
| Kristin Cheng | Personal Essay & Memoir | The Folly of Fantasy Fulfillment |
| Nathan Chiang | Personal Essay & Memoir | Yin and Yang |
| Lauren Cichon | Critical Essay | Sex Education Policy in the U.S. |
| Adelaide Cline | Poetry | Carve the corners of your body |
| Layla Cole | Personal Essay & Memoir | Do You Truly Ever Lose Someone? |
| Cole Corper | Flash Fiction | Blank Space |
| Lily Crowell | Journalism | A Lack Of School Spirit |
| Grace Cuddihy | Humor | Amazon Releases Controversial “Gaydar” – Yields Mixed Reviews |
| Dechen Culhane | Flash Fiction | Heights |
| Tess Cuomo O’Donoghue | Journalism | A Better Way of Learning? |
| Mina Daniels | Poetry | Braids and Bows |
| Eve Dartley | Short Story | Lexington & Avenue A |
| Debjani Das | Personal Essay & Memoir | Learning my Mother |
| Meera Dasgupta | Poetry | Uncle Sam’s Alphabet Soup |
| Grace Davis | Critical Essay | On Observing the Form and Content in “On Rereading a Sonnet Written in 1951” |
| Jaida Dent | Poetry | The Reality of Death |
| Jaida Dent | Poetry | Honest Poem |
| Dmitri Derodel | Personal Essay & Memoir | Dear Trans Kid |
| Dmitri Derodel | Poetry | Introduction to American Politics |
| Dmitri Derodel | Poetry | In Which the Second Sex Scene of Moonlight Makes the Cut |
| Gaia Di Mitri | Short Story | Sea Glass |
| Violet DiBiasio | Flash Fiction | Snap |
| Alaina DiSalvo Fagan | Writing Portfolio | Learning to Fight |
| Camryn Dixon | Critical Essay | The Thread of Racism: The Mistreatment of Black Americans in the American HealthCare System |
| Ilana Drake | Personal Essay & Memoir | NYC Girl |
| Colette Drinkard | Personal Essay & Memoir | So Sick |
| Zoe Ehrenkranz | Poetry | Ashes to Ashes, Saline Song |
| Coby Fein | Short Story | Ezinma |
| Coby Fein | Personal Essay & Memoir | Latin |
| Julia Feinberg | Poetry | My Perennial Garden of Blank Flowers |
| Sascha Feinburg | Humor | Reading Comprehension |
| Cassandra Fenwick | Flash Fiction | Discotopia |
| Ciara Flaherty | Poetry | My Grandmother’s House |
| Ciara Flaherty | Poetry | Discomfort |
| SL Franjola | Poetry | Lover (Invocation) |
| SL Franjola | Poetry | Ode to the Parents of Poets |
| SL Franjola | Poetry | When It’s Cold Again |
| SL Franjola | Poetry | My Crush in C Major |
| SL Franjola | Poetry | Notes on the Anatomical Heart |
| Bernadette Frishberg | Poetry | USA |
| Bernadette Frishberg | Short Story | Truth or Consequences, or, Life and Death Often Meet in Waffle House Parking Lots |
| Bernadette Frishberg | Personal Essay & Memoir | My Great Aunt Ita |
| Logan Furlonge | Short Story | Murder of Crows |
| Logan Furlonge | Poetry | “I’m Not Hungry” |
| Maria Geogdzhayeva | Science Fiction & Fantasy | to watch him disappear |
| Maria Geogdzhayeva | Poetry | an ode to pine trees |
| Isaiah Glick | Critical Essay | Brothers in Law |
| Julia Goldberg | Flash Fiction | Nearly Forgotten |
| Julia Goldberg | Journalism | A Look into Our English Curriculum |
| James Graham | Flash Fiction | The Game |
| Aniya Greene | Journalism | Students: Not Working is Not an Option |
| Liliana Greyf | Flash Fiction | Once, I asked you if we could kiss at the Met |
| Ana Maria Griffin Morimoto | Personal Essay & Memoir | Cielo |
| Naomi Habtu | Critical Essay | The Big Apple at its Core |
| Charlotte Haidar | Poetry | how to say grandfather |
| Emma Haidar | Poetry | Greed |
| Finn Hamre-myers | Dramatic Script | Quest For The Soup |
| Jem Hanan | Short Story | The Phantom And The Blade |
| Tina Hansong | Poetry | Recess |
| Tina Hansong | Poetry | Ice Cream |
| Amelia Harrington | Short Story | Ma’s Sea |
| Abby Harris | Poetry | First Blood |
| Rainier Harris | Journalism | Will the Bushwick Neighborhood Plan Address the Affordable Housing Crisis? |
| Rainier Harris | Journalism | As Nation Mourns “Death of Journalism,” Yang, A Presidential Candidate, Offers Solutions |
| May Hathaway | Poetry | a series of misnomers |
| May Hathaway | Personal Essay & Memoir | Cocoon |
| May Hathaway | Personal Essay & Memoir | Mother Tongue |
| Lila Hertzberg | Critical Essay | The Community Within Ourselves |
| Kate Heslin | Flash Fiction | Traded for Goats |
| Jordan Hickson | Critical Essay | Reproducing Slavery; How Reproductive Injustice in Modern Day Prisons Mimics Slavery |
| Melissa Holland | Personal Essay & Memoir | It Only Takes 17 Minutes |
| Gemma Hong | Personal Essay & Memoir | Dear Apa |
| Annelie Hyatt | Short Story | Love in Store |
| Annelie Hyatt | Dramatic Script | Behind the Counter |
| Annelie Hyatt | Poetry | For S. |
| Samuel Hyland | Journalism | Interracial Worship: How Two New York Churches Fight Against Religious Racism |
| Dominic Intervallo | Novel Writing | The Adventures of Class 793 |
| Alison Isko | Personal Essay & Memoir | Unicornia |
| Asher Jaffe | Short Story | Bakaak |
| Khiari Jaffier | Personal Essay & Memoir | Solve for G |
| Lulu Jiang | Short Story | Underground |
| Anya Jiménez | Poetry | Sugar and Longing |
| Brianna Johnson | Personal Essay & Memoir | How to Think Like a Black Person |
| Brianna Johnson | Critical Essay | Breaking Tradition: How the Black Body Can Heal After Centuries of Destruction |
| Ayelet Kaminer | Personal Essay & Memoir | Chronology |
| Ayelet Kaminer | Poetry | For Gidon And The Wall We Used To Share |
| Victoria Kerrigan | Poetry | Palma |
| Shubh Khanna | Personal Essay & Memoir | The Journey that Changed My Name |
| Christopher Kim | Journalism | The Impact of Japanese Colonial Rule on Current Bilateralism between the Republic of Korea and Japan. |
| Eric Kim | Personal Essay & Memoir | Banana Split with a Twist |
| Jaeah Kim | Critical Essay | Instinct and Consequence: The Nature of Humanity in William Carlos Williams’s “This Is Just To Say” and Kenneth Koch’s “Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams” |
| Louise Kim | Poetry | La chanson du soleil (The song of the sun) |
| Kendi King | Personal Essay & Memoir | Grape Popsicles |
| Kendi King | Writing Portfolio | Mirror Up |
| Shaye Kirman | Humor | Why do People Really Watch Basketball? |
| Madeleine Klass | Dramatic Script | A Ballad for the Piano Man |
| Nyasha Knigge | Flash Fiction | The Feather Flood |
| Audrey Kolker | Dramatic Script | The Bro Code |
| Sofia Korostyshevsky | Flash Fiction | Doppleganger |
| Sofia Korostyshevsky | Poetry | My Sunshine |
| Maximilian Koster | Personal Essay & Memoir | Chopped™ |
| Audrey Kschwendt | Poetry | Regret (Emulating Linda Pastan’s Poem “Anger”) |
| Audrey Kschwendt | Poetry | Morning Juice |
| Mollie Kuritzky | Personal Essay & Memoir | Hardships and French Toast |
| Guiv Lederer | Personal Essay & Memoir | The Cookie Shop |
| Montana Lee | Critical Essay | The NYCDOE Overstepped Its Authority By Openly Supporting the NYC Climate Strike |
| Sophia Leng | Poetry | Growing Up As a Girl- the Things You Learn |
| Hazel Lessard | Short Story | The Music of Oblivion |
| Reed Lessing | Personal Essay & Memoir | 2:42pm on a Wednesday |
| Reed Lessing | Flash Fiction | Migrant Caravan |
| Julie Levey | Journalism | Home of “The Maisel” |
| Anya Levin | Humor | Pants |
| Anya Levin | Short Story | Secrets and Truths |
| Anya Levin | Poetry | We Stand Connected |
| Isabel Levine | Flash Fiction | Footsteps |
| Phoebe Levitsky | Poetry | Fake Flowers |
| Bridget Li | Poetry | attention |
| Bridget Li | Poetry | to washington heights |
| Bridget Li | Personal Essay & Memoir | Hold Your Tongue |
| Sophia Li | Personal Essay & Memoir | Because |
| Sophia Li | Poetry | Border Crossing |
| Sophia Li | Short Story | Born |
| Sophia Li | Flash Fiction | Glass |
| Jackie Liang | Personal Essay & Memoir | Whispers of Perfectionism |
| Annabel Lieblich | Personal Essay & Memoir | Abuelo’s Fable |
| Edie Lipsey | Short Story | Pileup |
| Jessica Liu | Flash Fiction | When The City Died |
| Lauren Lodico | Novel Writing | Swimming Superheroes |
| Ari Lowenstein | Science Fiction & Fantasy | I Like to Think We Walked Away |
| Jade Lozada | Poetry | Hips of Ancestral Song |
| Devin Lyon | Personal Essay & Memoir | Orange in Honor |
| Iago Macknik-Conde | Poetry | Liminal Spaces |
| Mekhala Mantravadi | Poetry | Morning Duties, Bathing Water and Monsoon |
| Natalie Marcus-Wade | Journalism | 18 Years After 9/11, Where Are We? |
| Brynn Martin | Personal Essay & Memoir | I Risked My Life To Eat A Peanut |
| Sasha Mayer | Critical Essay | Ted Talk: Suffering and the Will of Human To Let Go |
| Ciara Mckay | Poetry | Aphrodite and the Sea |
| Divya Mehrish | Writing Portfolio | You Took My Lips |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | Phonetic |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | The Landline After the Divorce |
| Divya Mehrish | Personal Essay & Memoir | Snapshot |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | Elegy to My Name |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | father, once son; Color Wheel |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | 44085 |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | Pantoum to my Miscarried Body; Ghazal to the Moon; Ghazal to Skeleton |
| Divya Mehrish | Poetry | Fairy; Ooze |
| Divya Mehrish | Personal Essay & Memoir | To Be Made |
| Tatiana Mezitis | Poetry | Mid-Winter Yearning |
| Asha Mody | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Dream Rooms |
| Asha Mody | Dramatic Script | Houses on the Coast |
| Mirembe Mubanda | Personal Essay & Memoir | More than Muzungu |
| Jasmine Amora Narain | Poetry | Alphabet Soup |
| Roza Nayda | Personal Essay & Memoir | Candles |
| Roza Nayda | Short Story | Baked Potatoes |
| Charlotte Newman | Short Story | Red |
| Emily Ng | Personal Essay & Memoir | Still |
| Grace Novarr | Poetry | Elegy For My Seventeenth Year |
| Grace Novarr | Poetry | Elegaic Poems |
| Grace Novarr | Poetry | Art Poems |
| Alessandra Olivieri | Poetry | Thoughts on Forgiveness |
| Alessandra Olivieri | Poetry | Garden of Eden |
| Maya Olivo | Novel Writing | Marble |
| Ria Parker | Poetry | The Train Incident Report |
| Phoebe Pfaffman | Poetry | Jalilah |
| Kaitlyn Pohly | Poetry | Mama |
| Christina Poulin | Poetry | Athena |
| Christina Poulin | Short Story | Kaho |
| Adielle Rosenblum | Poetry | My Learning Process |
| Yoav Rosenthal | Critical Essay | Sinful Virtues: Satan’s Evolution in Paradise Lost |
| Audrey Ross | Poetry | All Good Things, Part 3 – Family |
| Stella Rothfeld | Short Story | Subway Singer |
| Vera Saidel | Flash Fiction | writing you to tell you how happy I am. don’t write back. |
| Benjamin Samuels | Short Story | Some Time |
| Benjamin Samuels | Critical Essay | Daniel Tiger’s Tyranny and the Myth of Ethical Television |
| Sara Sash | Short Story | To Be Perfect |
| Margaux Scandura | Short Story | May Showers |
| Talia Scheinberg | Short Story | In Unison |
| Ainsley Scheiner | Short Story | The Rabbit and the Alligator |
| Talin Schell | Poetry | The Name Of This Collection Is He |
| Krupa Sekhar | Personal Essay & Memoir | Let’s Face Reality |
| Sandhya Sethuraman | Poetry | rotting ripeness |
| Claire Shang | Writing Portfolio | In The Museum of Lost Things |
| Clara Shapiro | Personal Essay & Memoir | Lollipops for New Immigrants |
| Clara Shapiro | Short Story | A Plumber From Kyiv |
| Katherine Sherman | Poetry | Female Anatomy/The First Love is Always Platonic |
| Katherine Sherman | Poetry | Youth Prayers for Survival |
| Benjamin Shi | Short Story | Choking Hazard |
| Alyssa Simone | Poetry | Au Revoir (Goodbye Until We Meet Again) |
| Lucy Clara Sopher | Critical Essay | The Benefits and Pitfalls of “Self-Care” |
| Julia Sperling | Poetry | Self Portrait of Cherub |
| Evie Steele | Poetry | Songs of Truth (Found Poem from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass) |
| Hallie Stephenson | Personal Essay & Memoir | Can You Hold It |
| Hope Swetow | Personal Essay & Memoir | Garamond |
| Abigail Sylvor Greenberg | Personal Essay & Memoir | Notes on a Coastal Thanksgiving |
| Abigail Sylvor Greenberg | Poetry | Missed Concert Elegy |
| Brianna Tejeda | Poetry | I am Sick |
| Chloe Terestchenko | Short Story | Hauntingly Close |
| Chase Thomas | Personal Essay & Memoir | A Voice of the Past |
| Willamina Tungsten | Personal Essay & Memoir | Zugzwang |
| Alondra Uribe | Poetry | My Name |
| Alondra Uribe | Poetry | The Real Life Spani-fication of a Self Portrait without a Mouth |
| Jackson Vance Kipper | Personal Essay & Memoir | If Latin Is Not a Language Worthy of Study, Then I Inquire, What Is? |
| Jordan Wasserberger | Journalism | Joker Film Review |
| Oliver Whelan | Critical Essay | Keep the SHSAT; It’s Fair and Necessary |
| Summer Williams | Poetry | VENUS USED TO BE A GODDESS OF LOVE BUT NOW SHE’S JUST A PILE OF BONES (The Male Gaze & Other Tragedies) |
| Summer Williams | Personal Essay & Memoir | Consider the Body |
| Summer Williams | Poetry | Command-C |
| Alexandra Wong | Personal Essay & Memoir | Turnip Cake |
| Cindy Xie | Poetry | “schizophrenia: A Sonnet” ; “Growing Older: Villanelle” |
| Annabelle Xing | Poetry | Grandma’s Recipe |
| Madison Xu | Poetry | 20 Things I’m Afraid Of |
| Madison Xu | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Happytown |
| Madison Xu | Poetry | The Cry of 10,000 Mothers |
| Madison Xu | Short Story | The Left Behind Children |
| Rachel Yang | Poetry | Double Identity |
| Alexandra Yao | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Bottled Happiness |
| Alexandra Yao | Flash Fiction | Eclipse |
| Nancy Yao | Short Story | Requiem |
| Nancy Yao | Short Story | The Human Condition |
| Almer Yu | Poetry | some adolescent thoughts |
| Isabel Yu | Poetry | banana scented pencils |
| JJ Yu | Poetry | not crucified: worn away/Post- /Permafrost |
| JJ Yu | Poetry | flats/cleaner/the walk |
| Leo Yu | Critical Essay | A Warning |
| Leo Yu | Critical Essay | Morals, Management, & Machiavelli |
| Arden Yum | Critical Essay | Man-made Femininity |
| Clara Yuste-Golob | Poetry | Where I’m From |
| Ruiwen Zhang | Short Story | White Noise |
| Jenny Zheng | Personal Essay & Memoir | Thanksgiving Wedding |
| Abigail Zhou | Critical Essay | Hester Prynne’s Strength in The Scarlet Letter |
| Rachel Zhu | Poetry | Meditation on No Breath |
| Rachel Zhu | Personal Essay & Memoir | Knuckles |