Every year, hundreds of thousands of young writers diligently craft and submit novels, short stories, drawings and other forms of artistic expression in hopes that they will be recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a nearly century-old program sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. In 2016, sophomore Ryan Hill received a gold medal from the program for his short story “Plutonian Night”.

“Plutonian Night,”  a story detailing two astronauts’ exploration of Pluto, was sprung from a school assignment in Kaylin Bade’s English II: Literature and Composition class; students were told to begin with news articles and embellish them with fiction details to create a new story. For his work, Hill utilized NASA articles about the interplanetary space probe New Horizons.

“I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy,” Hill said.

Very few who have submitted to the program received any kind of award. Those that have—which includes literary giants such as Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, and Sylvia Plath—are considered to be writers of a extraordinarily high calibre. As a result, Hill felt surprise as his achievement.

“At the state level I got pretty excited,” Hill said. “When I learned I was going to be judged nationally, I did not think I was going to win anything.”

Hill views writing as primarily a hobby which he participates in for fun and as a “way to relax”. Rather than pursuing authorship as a full-time career, he plans to study chemistry later in life.

“I would love to be a professional author, but since there’s so much luck involved, that’s kind of my backup,” Hill said. “It’s like someone who would want to do professional sports.”

An awards ceremony will be held in New York City at Carnegie Hall on June 2; Hill will not be attending, but he will officially receive his award at a later date.