Megan Reed, a senior at La Canada High School, was selected as the first-place winner of the 2009 Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge in Los Angeles County. In addition to the publication and distribution of her book, Megan will receive a $5,000 college scholarship, which she will use toward he studies at the University of California, Davis.

Megan has always loved creating art and has spent time volunteering in children’s art classes. She values the Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge as an “eye opener” for thinking about issues of tolerance and diversity, and has continued to be interested in these topics since writing her book.

Emma Rabin-Court, a sophomore at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York, was selected as the first-place winner of the 2009 Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge in New York City. In addition to the publication and distribution of her book, Emma received a $5,000 college scholarship.

Emma loves to read and write and is involved in several extra cirricular activities, including competitive swimming, playing trumpet in the school band, and writing for the school newspaper, The Classic. She wrote Lucie Goes to the Big City to celebrate the diversity that she sees everyday, and hopes to one day travel the world and write about the many cultures she experiences.