@nobodycansaveme Don’t lose hope! Sometimes these competitions seem so arbitrary.
Didn’t get a medal in Nationals… hopefully next year!!! I’m so sad but I have two/ one more year? Next year is my junior year… 
Hey, it’s okay! I didn’t get a national medal either, and I spent months working on one of the stories I got a gold key for. Next year, I guarantee you, you’ll get that medal!
national gold medal in poetry! good luck to all 
1 Gold Medal,1 Silver!! I’m a little miffed that I didn’t get a BIG award, but I’m still happy! Ironically I got the Gold Medal for the story that wasn’t that good.
BIG meaning Best In Grade
See? Everybody else gets medals without trying. Be happy you got something at all.
@FlameAlchemist oh god, BIG awards must be so hard to get. I wouldn’t sweat it! congrats on your medals
I got two national silver medals! I can’t wait to read everyone’s work in the online gallery!
@nobodycansaveme My son didn’t get one this year or last year but we are onward and upward to next year! You are a tremendous writer to have gotten this far…only 8% of the works submitted in our region even got gold Keys!..so don’t give up!
@nobodycansaveme It’s okay I got nothing too but hey we LOST WITH DIGNITY! XD
I just checked the list, and out of the 7 Gold keys awarded throughout our entire school district (7-12th grade) this year, just one person got a national medal – she won a silver medal for an essay, and got nothing at all for her Senior portfolio, and she is probably the most decorated writer awards-wise in our entire district (and has won a gold medal before in 2016). It sounds like it was extra-super competitive this year so don’t lose hope if you didn’t win one this year, keep trying and don’t give up!
I won one gold key this year but no national medals. Since that was the only piece I submitted I didn’t have high expectations but I still have three years left since I’m only a freshman! last year I only got an honorable mention so there’s definitely improvement!
Also just found this thread but I just found out recently you could submit more than one piece of work. Definitely going to submit a lot of stuff next year!
@goandream me too dude, only 2 more years left but the fact that we got Gold Keys our first year is HUGE so don’t sweat it! 
@wistfulwords Same! Totally submitting more than one!
also, question: how much does your educator help you? Because I didn’t have an educator to help me so I had some typos and mistakes that might have cost me nationals 
Also, does anyone know if you can enter art AND writing to the competition? Because I have pieces in a ton of categories that I want to enter,
@wistfulwords yes you can submit in both categories and as many disciplines as you want, and also, this isn’t speaking for anyone but personally my educator didn’t even revise with me I just put her name on it and she signed all the papers lol bc she’s our general school liaison for these kind of things
@wistfulwords I don’t have anyone to read my work, so everything I submit is entirely just what I myself wrote and revised. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Some numbers here if anyone is interested:
220 Gold Medals in Poetry worldwide
8 of those in California