Seniors Teddy Griffith-Groome, Michael McCarthy, and Nathaniel Fitzgerald Win First Place Honors at CM's Picturing America Contest
On Wednesday afternoon, CM's Picturing America Contest concluded with an award ceremony for top contestants in the fiction, non-fiction, and poetry categories. Junior Chude Odbue reported the full story.
West Roxbury, Mass.-- Michael Connolly calls good non-fiction powerful. When a reader sees it, they never forget it.
So, when Mr. Connolly described senior Teddy Griffith-Groome’s essay about Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained-glass photo as “vivid” and “colorful,” the audience knew why he awarded Teddy with first place honors for his non-fiction writing at the Catholic Memorial School Picturing America Contest on Wednesday afternoon.
So, when Mr. Connolly described senior Teddy Griffith-Groome’s essay about Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained-glass photo as “vivid” and “colorful,” the audience knew why he awarded Teddy with first place honors for his non-fiction writing at the Catholic Memorial School Picturing America Contest on Wednesday afternoon.
“I wanted to be unique and expand my ideas to create a new story,” said Teddy, a Chestnut Hill resident.
As a part of this year's CM's Picturing America Contest, students submitted written materials in response to a photo of Hiram Powers’ statue Benjamin Franklin and a photo of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained-glass window Autumn Landscape. Since its inception 2008, the contest has called for CM students to write their own original non-fiction, fiction, and poetic pieces in response to an artwork chosen by the English Department every year.
With a deadline set at December 5 this year, students who submitted non-fiction and fiction responses needed to submit one-to-four pages of literary work. If students chose to submit a poetic piece, they needed to send in 10-to-100 lines of writing.
Mr. Connolly, a sportswriter and CM grad, joined New York Times bestselling author Mr. William Martin and poet Ms. Karina Van Berkum as judges at this year's contest. Togethter, they selected first, second, and third place finishes along with honorable mention recipients for essays submitted by students across the categories of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Senior Michael McCarthy won first place in the fiction category, judged by Mr. Martin. In the poetry category, judged by Ms. Van Berkum, senior Nathaniel Fitzgerald finished in first.
“Both in poetry and in prose, all the students here today took these images and brought them to life,” said event director Mrs. Caitlin Corsano.
“The contest is a special way to celebrate student achievement especially in a creative field. It is wonderful to see students step outside their comfort zones and achieve this level of success.”
Second place recipients included Paul Fantozzi in fiction, Brendan Galvin in non-fiction, and Ryan Greenwood in poetry. Meanwhile, John Marcucci, Yuriy Bane, and John Staunton earned third-place honors in the fiction, non-fiction, and poetry categories respectively.
First place winners received a monetary prize of $175, second place $75, third place $50, and honorable mention $25.
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Catholic Memorial
Catholic Memorial
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Catholic Memorial, the Christian Brothers School of Boston, prepares boys for college, manhood and a world full of unknown challenges, ambiguity and complex problems and the importance of relationships.
