The winners of the 6th Annual Avon Scholarship Essay Contest were announced on June 2 at the Avon Film Center in Stamford. The contest was open to all high school seniors throughout the Fairfield and Westchester counties, and with 74 essays submitted, this year’s contest was very competitive.
The theme of the essay was “why film matters.” Each student was asked to write a 500-700 word essay based on a film that they had seen that was released in the past year, how it impacted them and how film in general impacts society. Each essay was then read by two separate judges. All of the judges involved were professional writers, scriptwriters and media publishing executives.
The winners were announced by Sue Baker, chair of the Avon Education Initiative Committee, and presented with prizes totaling $7,500 in scholarship money. The checks were made out to the university or college that the student was planning to attend next year.
The winner of the 6th Annual Avon Scholarship is Natalie Skigen of Westhill High School. Skigen received $2000 towards her future education at Washington University in St. Louis. Terrie Yang of Stanford High School was awarded second place and Casey Benzaken, also from Westhill, came in third. Honorable mentions included Jessica Shwartz, Samantha Halm, Amamihechukwu Nnodum, Marina Pipher, Ashley Rich and Natalie Wallington.
