Shoreham-Wading River High School junior Kristin Tortora has won an art contest and had her artwork published in the December 2021 issue of Teen Ink magazine.

A member of the high school’s art and literary magazine Cymbals, Kristin’s use of acrylic inks as her medium to create a colorful mythical creature landed her a first-place prize in the national magazine devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos and forums.

English teachers and advisers to Cymbals Jennifer Nazer and Sara Trenn continue to work to expand the number of opportunities they present to our Cymbals students this year. “We’ve been looking into various contests outside of school to help encourage our students to branch out with their work,” Ms. Trenn said. “Teen Ink is an excellent resource for this purpose as they exclusively highlight teen artists and writers. We were excited to learn some of our students submitted their work for consideration, but were thrilled to learn that Kristen was the ultimate winner of this national art contest. It’s been a very exciting time for Cymbals. All of Kristen’s peers are just thrilled for her! It’s important for these students to have their work validated and recognized.”