Two S.C. teens win writing honor

Two South Carolina high school seniors are among winners of a Scholastic “Portfolio Gold” award, a prestigious national competition for talented young artists and writers.

Victoria Cole of Columbia, who attends the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, and Virginia Pfaehler of Mount Pleasant, a student of the Charleston School of the Arts, each will receive a $10,000 cash award next month in a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Pflaehler is the third Charleston magnet school student in the past six years mentored by creative writing teacher Rosemarie B. Miles to win an award. Cole was a student at Richland Northeast High School before enrolling in the state’s public magnet school program for gifted arts students.

Both teens were among just five students who won for their submissions in the writing competition started 85 years ago by the Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company. The company remains “the single largest sponsor of the program” now administered by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a spokeswoman said.

The Alliance receives thousands of works of art and writing in 25 categories of art and writing each year. A panel of jurors comprised of artists, authors, educators and arts professionals evaluate the entries at the local and national level.

Cole and Pfaehler are in elite company. Previous winners as high school students have included: Truman Capote, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol and John Lithgow.

— Bill Robinson, brobinson@thestate.com