St. Mary’s Dominican High School 8th graders Camille “CC” Truxillo and Samantha Wild have been recognized as Promising Young Writers by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). They are the only two recipients from Louisiana this year. This school term, they were students in Casey Lefante’s English I Honors class.

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.