And the silver goes to… 

 

Helen Liu and Sarah Xu!

 

Both young ladies worked through at least eight drafts, and the results are exciting, informative essays about two very important battles in human history. Read the essays and write comments!

 

 

And the Gold Medal for the first published Famous Battles essay goes to…

 

SAMMY XU from Hong Kong!

 

Way to go Sammy!

 

This essay represents a great deal of study: from photography to journalism, from war correspondents to famous battles, the nonfiction unit in the autumn of 2012 was brimming over with information. Taking the principles of journalism as set forth by the Project for Excellence in Journalism as a foundation for this paper, students have had to verify information relentlessly in their drafts. From the understanding of creative nonfiction, students have included fictional techniques such as first-person accounting and dramatic pacing in their Famous Battles essays. Finally, from an understanding of the tragic importance of war in human culture, students have grappled with famous battles. Sammy takes the gold for his outstanding essay on the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Soon essays will appear on The Battle of Zama, The Battle of Marathon, Waterloo, and the Siege of Orleans.