Three Place Winning Entries in Quill and Scroll Contest
May 12, 2003

Three students proved that they’re not only academic whizzes, but also creative forces, when they penned winning entries in The Quill and Scroll Society’s International Writing, Photo Contest. Senior Samantha Bailye and juniors Gwen Tobert and David Spett picked up awards for their talents in writing, photography, and/or illustration. For their impressive works, they will receive Quill and Scroll’s National Award Gold Key.

Samantha Bailye tackled the Review Columns category with her entry titled, “Go Jane Go.” Involved in school activities, Samantha is a writer and copy editor of Vital Signs, the school’s awareness magazine. Her skills in writing have also been recognized by the Justin Society, whose contest placed her second for her fictional work. When she is not writing for the school’s magazine, she spends her time as a member of the Morristown Hospital Teen Health Advisory Committee and the Young President’s Organization (YPO) Youth Leadership Committee.

Gwen Tobert was equally successful in the Society’s competition by winning this year’s Editorial Cartoon category for “I Demand a Recount!” A recent inductee in the Cum Laude Society and a member of the school’s Model Congress, Gwen has contributed various works to Vital Signs, the school’s awareness magazine which addresses global, national, and social issues. In addition to her winning art work, she has written opinion pieces for the school’s magazine. Her most recent article states her position on the death penalty.

“Contributing to Vital Signs is “something that’s fun … and has kept me knowledgeable about current events,” Gwen said.

David Spett’s creative talents made him the recipient of five winning entries, dominating the Photography/News–Feature category with four of his works. They are titled: “Penguin,” “Seals During Mating Season,” “Yellow Land Iguana,” and “Two Nasca Boobies.” David’s fifth work, “End of an Era: A Legend Moves On,” an article on the departure of one of Pingry’s beloved teachers, Antoine duBourg, won the In-Depth/Individual category. His five awards tie him with two other students for the most awards received nationwide. David has also spent a lot of time with a pen and paper. He is an editor of Vital Signs, The Pingry Record, the school’s newspaper, and editor in chief of The Broken Record, another one of the school’s student driven publications. He was awarded “Outstanding Lab Performance” at the High School Journalism Institute and a certificate of merit from the Columbia Scholastic Press.

The Quill and Scroll Society was organized in 1926 by a group of high school advisers for the purpose of encouraging and recognizing individual student achievement in journalism and scholastic publication. Each year the society’s contest offers 12 categories for individual and/or team competition, including editorial, photography, and review columns. There was a total of 3, 868 entries in this year’s competition. In all 12 categories, there were 292 national winners and 352 individual student winners.



© 2003 The Pingry School