For the second year in a row, St. Mary's Academy students have won two national 2006 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards - one Gold Key and one Silver Key. To add perspective, last year only five total were awarded to the state. St. Mary's junior Bridget Brewer's short story "House of Leaves" won a national Gold Key award, and fellow junior Anne Walla's "He Who Waits" won a short story national Silver Key award.

Each year approximately 50,000 manuscripts are submitted to the 80 regional programs and "Region-at-Large," and from these finalists, approximately 450 writers are bestowed national gold or silver awards. Due to lack of state funding, Oregon is now part of the "Region-at-Large," which means St. Mary's students initially competed against approximately 5,000 other entries.

All national award recipients are invited to the National Celebration Events in New York City and Washington, D.C., in June 2006. This year's celebration in New York will be held on Thursday, June 8, and Friday, June 9, 2006. The Awards Ceremony will take place at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, June 8. On Friday, June 9, all national award recipients will be invited to participate in a series of cultural and career workshops led by leaders in the creative industries.

"I'm so proud of Anne and Bridget and all of our students who create fiction and poetry," says St. Mary's English Department Chair Sara Salvi. "We have some pretty darn talented girls here!"

Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary's Academy of Portland, is Oregon's oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary's Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.