Five Pinewood students, eighth grader Tiffany Li, freshman Eddie Ling, sophomore Sophie Saibi, junior Soha Budhani, and senior Michael Shtrom, earned awards from the 2025 Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in late January. This achievement builds on Pinewood’s past success in written recognition, with students winning a plethora of awards from both the 2023 Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and the American Scholastic Press Association Newspaper and Literary Arts Contest.

This year, Pinewood students stand out from over three thousand submissions across the Bay Area. For Saibi, the achievement is an inspiring sign of her hard work.

“This helped me understand that with enough time and effort … I could make my writing into something award-worthy,” Saibi said.

In the personal essay and memoir category, Li won a Gold Key, Scholastic’s highest regional honor, for her memoir “Whispers of the Bay.” The reflective piece describes the serenity of a childhood beach near her home.

Budhani was also awarded a Gold Key for her personal essay “Ode to My Crown, a Journey With African Hair.” The memoir highlights how her desires for her hair have changed as she has matured and her reconciliation with those changes.

Saibi ended the personal essay and memoir category with her honorable mention “In Between,” a reflective essay on the experiences of both her French and Chinese cultural identities.

Under the dramatic script category, Ling won a Silver Key, Scholastic’s second highest regional honor, for his screenplay titled “Arrivals and Departures.” The witty script follows a man in the afterlife forced to face his past mistakes.

Falling under the poetry category, Shtrom earned honorable mentions for “I Could Sit Forever,” a piece about a widow mourning her husband. Shtrom says that his idea was sparked by the love English teacher Ellie Pojarska and her husband shared for each other.

“I was inspired by how in love they were with each other,” Shtrom said. “They have such a connection.”

Shtrom received one more honorable mention for his piece titled “Horizons Extinguished,” a poem detailing a man’s rejection after proposing on the beach.

Budhani snagged the last award in her poem “Left Behind,” an honorable mention which explores the tradeoffs of her parents’ immigration to the US.

While these achievements highlight the skills of Pinewood students, they wouldn’t have reached such recognition without Pinewood’s teachers and curriculum.

“I would like to shout out Ms. Strand. Without the Personal Writing Project, this idea would never have come through,” Ling said. “She cleaned out my idea and supported it from beginning to end.”

Nearing the end of his high school career, Shtrom believes that Pinewood’s English program encourages creativity and originality through deep analysis.

“In literature classes, Pinewood pushes you to think outside of the box,” Shtrom said. “And in writing classes, Pinewood teaches you to deeply analyze writers and techniques…and use them in your own way.”

On top of this, Shtrom invites everyone to submit to competitions in the future, citing the low stakes and potentially high reward.

“Everyone should submit their work because, like me, you might be very surprised when you win,” Shtrom said. “And there’s really no downside.”

For Shtrom, the award has sparked a newfound confidence in his writing.

“I definitely feel like winning changed how I see myself as a writer because before that I wasn’t particularly confident,” Shtrom said. “The award made me think that my writing actually does have something to it.”