Two Brookhaven natives recently won awards in creative writing.

The Mississippi School of the Arts Literary Arts students competed in the prestigious Regional Scholastic Creative Writing Competition hosted by The Eudora Welty House, in conjunction with the Eudora Welty Foundation.

Vernell Allen and Amelia Stanford, both Juniors from Brookhaven, each received a Silver Key.

MSA students received one American Voices Nomination/Best in Show, one Senior Portfolio Winner, five Gold Keys, 10 Silver Keys and 16 Honorable Mentions.

Writing entries represented diverse categories, including dramatic script, humor, journalism, personal essay/memoir, short story, poetry, science fiction/fantasy, as well as general fiction and non-fiction portfolios.

Entries receiving American Voices nominations and Gold Key awards, which are the highest level of achievement, will be sent to New York City where they will compete in the national competition among 80 other regions.

The Mississippi School of the Arts is an eleventh and twelfth grade visual and performing arts residential, public high school located on the historic Whitworth College campus. Students not only meet the traditional Mississippi high school curriculum, they receive special instruction in visual arts, vocal music, dance, literary arts and theatre. Students interested in MSA apply their sophomore year. Last year’s graduating class received over 5.8 million dollars in scholarships.

For more information visit our website: www.msa.k12.ms.us or call 601-823-1300.