Pittsburgh, PA  –  Monday, August 15, 2022  – 

Through Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Teen Media Awards teen creators have invited us to examine what we think we know. They invite us to reflect on beauty, to dwell in complexity, and to celebrate joy where we find it.

More than 100 young writers, visual artists, musicians, filmmakers and inventors in Allegheny County vied for honors in the Library’s 2022 Teen Media Awards. The Awards, which serve as a platform for celebrating teens and their original content are divided into two parts – The Ralph Munn Creative Writing Awards and the Labsy Awards — and recognize a broad range of creative work.

First place winners in each category received $250 and second place winners received $100.

 

2022 Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest Winners
Open to high school students who live or attend school in Allegheny County (grades 9 – 12)

All “entries of quality” are published in an anthology, which is distributed to all of the public libraries in Allegheny County, as well as to the schools whose students are published in the book. Each published teen also receives an anthology.

Judging the Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest were bestselling author Rachael Lippincott (Short Prose) and 2022 Guggenheim Fellow Yona Harvey (Poetry).

Rachael Lippincott is the coauthor of All This Time, #1 New York Times bestseller Five Feet Apart, and She Gets the Girl, and the author of The Lucky List. She holds a BA in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, she currently resides in Pennsylvania with her wife and their dog, Hank.

Yona Harvey is the author of two poetry collections, You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love, winner of the Believer Book Award for Poetry, and Hemming the Water, winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She co-wrote with Roxane Gay the Marvel comic World of Wakanda, a companion series to the bestselling Black Panther comic, and co-wrote with Ta-Nehisi Coates Marvel’s Black Panther & the Crew. Harvey is also 2022 Guggenheim Fellow.

 

Short Prose

1st place: “Afterimage” by Kay Mi, North Allegheny Senior High, Grade 11

2nd Place: “Partners” by Mia Sanford, City Charter High School, Grade 12

Short Prose Honorable Mentions (published in anthology)

•  Jahzara Aurelia-Mae, Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School, Grade 9 – “Dreamscape”
•  Eva Dubreil, Upper St. Clair High School, Grade 9 – “A/D/H/D”
•  Sarah Gallogly, City Charter High School, Grade 11 – “Fireworks”
•  Lilah George, Pittsburgh Allderdice, Grade 10 – “Reflective Surface”
•  Ashnavi Ghosh, North Allegheny Intermediate High School, Grade 9 – “Bees”
• Elaine Gombos, Shady Side Academy, Grade 11 – “Timbre”
• Everest Gray, Quaker Valley High School, Grade 10 – “The boy”
• Andrew Hall, Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School, Grade 9 – “How the Buffalo Felt”
• Roan Hollander, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 12 – “Maps”
• Daniel Kochupura, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11 – “A Shareholder Letter” and “Rocket Fuel”
• Madeleine Ng, Oakland Catholic High School, Grade 10 – “Healing, In Fragments”
• Lucy Potts, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 10 – “Competition Number 59”
• Natalie Shaffer, Deer Lakes High School, Grade 9 – “The Silence After the Flame”
• Avery Slagle, Penn Hills Senior High School, Grade 10 – “Met the Desert, Felt the Heat”
• Sophia Whitman, Upper St. Clair High School, Grade 9 – “Cardinals at Night” and “Room 83”
• Ben Winslow, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11 – “once a mother” and “The Director”

 

Poetry

1st place: “Lessons for My Daughter” by Leia Leviathan, Environmental Charter School, Grade 9

2nd place: “militant violins” by Anna Mares, Mt. Lebanon High School, Grade 12

Poetry Honorable Mentions (published in anthology)

• Olivia Belcher, North Allegheny Senior High, Grade 12 – “The Blood of the Covenant”
• Lucy Caroff, Obama Academy, Grade 9 – “Silence is” and “Mother’s Hands”
• Audrey Coleman, Mt. Lebanon High School, Grade 10 – “oh, what a pretty bouquet”
• Lashe Daini, Nazareth Prep, Grade 11 – “Brown Mother”
• Connor Dalgaard, West Allegheny High School, Grade 12 – “Enlightened”
• Jade Davis, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, Grade 11 – “Facing vs Pondering”
• Madalynn Hill, Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School, Grade 11 – “Flower of Fauna”
• Jalainta Houser, City Charter High School, Grade 10 – “DEAR YOU”
• Linda Kong, North Allegheny Intermediate High School, Grade 9 – “fourteen (14)” and “Palms, Blooming”
• Luciano Lanz, McKeesport High School, Grade 11 – “Taco Wednesday”
• Theresa Lascek, Mt. Lebanon High School, Grade 10 – “Text Me in the Morning.”
• Leia Leviathan, Environmental Charter High School, Grade 9 – “Dog Eat Dog”
• Jason Lu, Upper St. Clair High School, Grade 11 – “Dreamland”
• Anna Mares, Mt. Lebanon High School, Grade 12 – “on spring”
• Kay Mi, North Allegheny Senior High, Grade 11 – “rift”
• Aria Narasimhan, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11 – “In This Case, It Was You”
• Kamryn Natale, Mt. Lebanon High School, Grade 10 – “the universe”
• Katherine Odenthal, McKeesport Area Senior High School, Grade 9 – “WORMS ON MY SKIN”
• Katharine Peng, North Allegheny Senior High School, Grade 11 – “the tragedy of Amonute”
• Lucy Potts, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 10 – “On A One Way Road Off Of Pioneer”
• Hannah Russell, Pittsburgh Sci-Tech, Grade 11 – “Lacroix: Extra Sad”
• Alex Scott, Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School, Grade 12 – “Everlasting, My Love”
• Helen Zhang, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11 – “Death and Fate”
• Jamie Ziegler, Pittsburgh Allderdice, Grade 9 – “Sugar Pop”

 

2022 Labsy Award Winners
Open to all students who live or attend school in Allegheny County grades 6 – 12.

A panel of 25 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh staff judged this year’s Labsy Awards.

 

Ralph Munn Cover Art Design for 2023 Anthology

“A Headfull of Weeds” by Alex Riccobon, PA Virtual Charter School, Grade 11

 

Filmmaking

1st place: “A Clay Man’s Quest” by Rick Jorritsma, Winchester Thurston, Grade 7

2nd place: “Straight-Acid” by Simon Nigam, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 10

Honorable Mention:
• Delia Brown, Winchester Thurston, Grade 9

 

Music

1st place: “Wasted Potential” by Lindsay Liebro, Hampton High School, Grade 12

2nd place: “Sonatina in G Minor” by Collin Jacobs, Ava Maria Academy, Grade 7

Honorable Mentions

• Nina Cranor, Pittsburgh Sci-Tech, Grade 10
• Alex Sun, Upper St, Clair High School, Grade 10
• Leyeti Ward, Winchester Thurston, Grade 8
• Sophia Tang, PACyber, Grade 10

 

Invention

1st place: “Circle Dog Simulator” by Simon Hirch & Richie Gozansky, Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, Grade 7

2nd place: “Heated Backpack” by Conor Dalgaard, West Allegheny High School, Grade 12

Honorable Mention

• George Shorthouse, Bishop Canevin, Grade 12

 

Photography

1st place: “Solitary” by Eris Pil, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11
2nd Place: “Pittsburgh Sunrise” by Brodie Bard, Pittsburgh Sci-Tech, Grade 9

Honorable Mentions
• John Rhee, Shadyside Academy Senior School, Grade 10
• Nina Cranor, Pittsburgh Sci-Tech, Grade 10
• Eris Pil, Winchester Thurston, Grade 11

 

3D Art

1st place: “Loudest in the Room” by Brynn Campbell, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 10
2nd place: “Ghost Mug” by Ava Zhan, Avonworth High School, Grade 12

Honorable Mentions

• Ayla Altman, Bishop Canevin High School, Grade 9
• Delia Brown, Winchester Thurston, Grade 9

 

2D Art

1st place: “Growth” by Naomi Davis, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 9
2nd place: “Magee’s Orange Stairs” by Brynn Campbell, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 10

Honorable Mentions

• Alex Riccobon, PA Virtual Charter School, Grade 11
• Michelle Star, Pittsburgh Allderdice, Grade 12
• Mariah Sanchez, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 12
• Sarina Pretter, The Ellis School, Grade 10
• Anushka Prabhu, North Allegheny Intermediate High School, Grade 10

 

Fashion

1st place: “Monster High Tops” by Naomi Davis, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 9
2nd Place: “Plastic Bag Bucket Hat” by Leyeti Ward, Winchester Thurston, Grade 8

Honorable Mentions

• Amalia Glowczewski, Pittsburgh CAPA, Grade 8
• Jane Windsheimer, Chartiers Valley High School, Grade 12
• Adrian Wos, Sierra Catholic High School, Grade 10

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