If you didn’t buy a ticket for the 4th Annual Teen Scene Awards Dinner, you missed out on a lot of fun, prizes, great food and more!
Held on Saturday, April 20, at the Blossoms Event Center, in Magnolia Greens, adults and teens were recognized for their writing skills. Janet Stiegler, writer and coordinator of the nominating committee received the Founders Award for her service and contribution to the success of the organization.
An event like this just doesn’t happen. It takes time, effort, coordination, marketing and hard work to ensure the event is successful. And it takes more than one or two people. It takes people who give of their time and efforts over time, without expecting to be in the spotlight. This year, those people included: Nancy Bryans, Doug Ensley, Tony Swegle, Patty Decker and Suzie Morrison. Our teen assistant during the presentation was Violet Azimi. To add something new to the event, we tried a bake sale this year and received many delicious donations from Board Members, writers and friends.
We also had the support of Kelly Lackey, Event Manager for Blossoms. Kelly and her team were fantastic—allowing us to set up early, make last minute changes, providing last minute supplies and helping us to make sure the event was a night to remember. The food was fantastic, and I urge anyone looking for an event venue to give Blossoms Event Center a serious look.
Gerald Decker announced a new initiative for Teen Scene, Inc., “The Communication and Leadership Academy.” The vision statement is:
Create an inclusive program for young people in the Cape Fear region ages 12 through17 that will:
- Build confidence in public speaking and presentation skills through workshops, seminars, field trips, and mentoring by business, community and political leaders.
- Enhance communication skills through opportunities to publish and promote articles, podcasts, and videos, and to work with area writers/authors, educators, and other experts.
- Teach the value of community service and its impact on the community; and
- Prepare participants for the next stage in their lives, whether that is college, a professional or technical career, or community leadership.
This is an important new addition to our programs that will create a new level of success and opportunities to our area teens.
Susan Savia provided the entertainment again this year and there was a video presentation from our writing partners in Australia, Peter Doherty and two of his students at William Clarke College sent their good wishes and congratulations to the winners and shared their thoughts on how the partnership has benefitted both groups of teens in terms of understanding our similarities and differences.
During the course of the evening, Sydnee Moore, President of the Brunswick Arts Council presented Gerald Decker with a $2,000.00 grant to continue our writing programs and expand our efforts into the world of video and podcasting. There was also a lighthearted video presentation from the students at Heide Trask High School demonstrating their skills at presenting daily podcasts at school. Carl Parker, President of the Brunswick County chapter of the NAACP presented the Educator Awards and cash prize to two of our students from Early College High School for their efforts not only in writing for Teen Scene but for their production efforts.
Our congratulations go out to the Cape Fear Voices winners (Violet Azimi will be publishing an article congratulating our Teen Scene winners.)
- In the category of Non-Fiction/History, the winner was David Hume, III for his story, “Paisano The Protector.”
- The winner in the Memories/Personal Essay, was Maryann Nunnally, for her story, “On Being a Caretaker.”
- For Creative Writing/Poetry, the winner was Doug Ensley, for the story, “The Cabin in the Woods.”
- For the humor category, the winner was Dan Neizmik, for this essay, “The Jack and Jill Report.”
On behalf of our Publisher, Gerald Decker and myself, thank you all for coming out, supporting our initiatives and being there for us. We hope to see you next year!
