Three Eastview seniors (Bradley Carstens, Madeline Kofoed and Shirley Liao) were selected to receive Certificates for Superior Writing in the 2009 National Achievement Awards in Writing sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), which released the names Sept. 22.

These nine are among a group of only 16 seniors in Minnesota and 544 nationwide selected to receive a 2009 award based on writing samples they produced last year, as juniors. Students must be nominated by their English teachers to participate in this highly competitive program. Each nominee submitted two samples of writing to a panel of judges. One sample, of any genre, could be drafted and revised over time as an example of a student's best writing. The other sample, an essay based on a theme selected by the Achievement Awards Advisory Committee, was generated during a supervised, 75-minute writing period.

The student writings are judged by a team of English teachers chosen from throughout the students' home state. Judging is based on quality and presentation of ideas; whether the student made an idea his or her own; clarity about subject and audience, and whether the writer demonstrates effective and imaginative use of language to inform and move an audience.

The National Achievement Awards in Writing program was established in 1957 to encourage high school students in their writing and to recognize publicly some of the best student writers in the nation. NCTE submits the names of Achievement Award recipients to colleges and universities. Students receive a certificate and cards highlighting their achievement to attach to their college application forms.