Auckland student wins international writing prize

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1623" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;07&sol;SND17-wk4-Writing&lowbar;prize&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"SND17-wk4-Writing prize" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;>Competing with over 3000 other teenagers from around the globe&comma; King&&num;8217&semi;s College student Nicolas Yan never dreamt he would have a chance of winning the 2015 Writing Prize contest run by the College Board and The Atlantic magazine in the United States&period; <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When he was informed he was the winner&comma; and will soon be published&comma; he said it was the &&num;8220&semi;most surreal experience&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The competition has the aim of encouraging students to engage thoughtfully with important texts to build knowledge&comma; deepen understanding and share it effectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Twenty-five prescribed texts were offered&comma; and Nicolas&&num;8217&semi; choice was Martin Luther King Jr&&num;8217&semi;s speech&comma; &&num;8220&semi;I have a dream&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This year&&num;8217&semi;s competition was judged by 40 college professors of history&comma; political science and composition&comma; with the winning essay being selected by a panel of College Board and The Atlantic staff&period; They said that Nicolas&&num;8217&semi; work &&num;8220&semi;stood out as a successful demonstration of analytical writing&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The prize package for Nicolas includes US&dollar;5000 and publication in the September issue of the magazine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s unbelievable that I will be published in The Atlantic&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s incredibly honouring to consider that my words will appear in a publication that housed the works of such luminaries as Mark Twain&comma; Robert Frost&comma; Ernest Hemingway and Vladimir Nabokov&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t think it will sink in until I physically see my essay on the pages of the magazine&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the year 13 student said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nicolas was flown to Washington D&period;C&period;&comma; accompanied by his parents and King&&num;8217&semi;s College Head of English Steve Walker&comma; to be presented with his award at The Atlantic&&num;8217&semi;s Education Summit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He says he will put half of the prize money away for his tertiary education&comma; and the remainder will support a fundraiser he is running for Nepal&comma; after the devastating earthquake that occurred there in April this year&period;<&sol;p><&sol;p>&NewLine;