Scholastic

From page 1 to her. “I went in feeling like someone had actually read my work.”

Dugar’s piece is about her “experience of growing up as a person of color” and feeling pressured to fit into a certain beauty standard – the white standard. Growing up, the majority of characters Dugar saw in books, TV shows, and media were white. She said, “I never saw TV characters I could relate to.”

However, she thinks that people of color are happy to talk about their experiences once they’re given the chance. Dugar wants people of color to be confident in who they are and the way they look, and she hoped to convey that message in "Brown Child."

Elsa Sapojnikoff, whose piece "Gordita" won at nationals, also wrote about beauty standards. Sapojnikoff wrote "Gordita" at a time when she was feeling insecure with her body image. As a kid, she was never bothered by her appearance However, as she grew older, she started to feel troubled by the way beauty seemed to come naturally to other girls but not to her.

All her anxiety about her appearance eventually bubbled over into her piece. She says "Gordita" is a "cold hard look at the reality of how people feel about weight.” While she recognizes everyone has insecurities, she hopes all people can eventually accept their appearances.