Youth Editors Recognize Global Teen Writers, Poets, and Artists with 2017 KidSpirit Awards

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - June 20, 2017 - PRLog -- KidSpirit (http://kidspiritonline.com), the award-winning online magazine and community by and for 11- to 17-year-olds, announces the winners of its annual KidSpirit Awards today. The awards, chosen by the magazine's all-youth editorial boards, recognize contributors for outstanding expository writing, personal essays, poetry, and artwork featured in KidSpirit in the last year. Almost 50 editors around the world selected pieces from issues on Myth and Magic, Happiness, Human Dignity, and Mysteries of the Universe

KidSpirit provides a unique forum for young people to explore life's big questions, and award recipients represent the wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and interests that make up the magazine's global community. This year's award-winning pieces showcase creative and inspiring approaches of youth to a wide array of substantive topics.

Each issue of KidSpirit revolves around a Big Question posed by the editors. The 2017 Big Question Award goes to a writer who took a nuanced look at how our experiences shape our understanding of happiness.

In the Features department, editors recognized a brave piece co-written by teens on opposite sides of an international conflict; a thought-provoking analysis of the role fantasy and science fiction play in our lives; an incredible narrative of one young woman's journey to self-acceptance after growing up with an incarcerated father; a short history of how we've defined happiness through the ages; and an unexpected dive into the parallels between technology and magic.

Winners in the Awesome Moments department include an eye-opening essay about one teen's first experience of racial stereotyping, and a thoughtful explanation of another writer's changing definition of generosity. Interfaith Connections Awards acknowledge a multicultural journey through the mysteries of our universe; a piece encouraging us to revel in our questions, regardless of whether we find answers; and a moving article on the magic of storytelling.

This year's PerSpectives Award - the only award reserved for an adult author - goes to Sarah Sayeed, PhD, for her piece "Affirming Human Dignity." Sayeed draws on her many years of community and interfaith work to illustrate that dignity is not just a right, but an ongoing process and responsibility.

For a complete list of winners, please visit KidSpirit's website at http://kidspiritonline.com/about/whats-new/.