2012 Fran Abrams & Ida F. Haimovicz Awards Presentation & Reception

Join us for a reception celebrating Ruthie Prillaman, recipient of the 2012 Abrams Creative Writing Award and Samantha Ritchie, recipient of the 2012 Haimovicz Visual Arts Award! This free reception will feature an exhibit of work by Samantha Ritchie and readings of work by Ruthie Prillaman and author Susan Coll.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm
Betty Mae Kramer Gallery and Music Room
Silver Spring Civic Building, One Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Parking is available in the garage on Ellsworth Drive
Please RSVP here or at http://2012haimovicz-abrams.eventbrite.com/

ABOUT RUTHIE PRILLAMAN
Ruthie Prillaman, recent graduate of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, MD, is the 2012 recipient of the Fran Abrams Creative Writing Award. Prillaman will receive a cash award and a public reading of her work at the June 12 reception.

Prillaman notes that she has always had an affinity for writing. “When I was younger, I wrote little poems about box turtles and baby lions in my school notebook. I thought writing was a natural thing that everybody did when they thought of something interesting. In high school, I discovered that I had a serious passion for writing. During the summers, I had the tremendous opportunities to attend writing workshops, [which] introduced me to a tribe of other young writers, people who shared my attitude about life, the need to observe it critically, to record it, to reflect upon it and organize it into something meaningful and beautiful. My experiences convinced me that I wanted to pursue a career in writing, to join the writing community and immerse myself in the literature I love and the creative process I crave.” Prillaman will continue her studies this fall at Yale, where she plans to major in English with concentration in Creative Writing.

ABOUT SAMANTHA RITCHIE
Samantha Ritchie, recent graduate of Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, MD, is the 2012 recipient of the Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Arts Award. Ritchie will receive a cash award at the June 12 reception. Her solo exhibition is on exhibit from June 1-29, 2012 at the Betty Mae Kramer Gallery and Music Room inside the Silver Spring Civic Building in downtown Silver Spring.

Ritchie notes that “Art is an essential part of my life. I have always been artistic and I have grown up in a world of art. Foremost, my parents are artists. At home, art supplies are plentiful and I am surrounded by a library of art books and a wealth of inspiration from the family artifacts we collect and display. My parents never forced art on me but it was always such an integral part of my upbringing that it was inescapable and, thankfully, I have no desire to escape. Through art making, I am able to explore my environment in a different way that is personal to me.” Ritchie will study art at Cooper Union in New York City in the fall.

ABOUT SUSAN COLL
Susan Coll is the author of the novels Beach Week, Acceptance, Rockville Pike, and karlmarx.com. She has worked as a travel and feature writer, and has also written a few op-eds and book reviews, published in such places as The Asian Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Washington Post, and NPR.org. She is the Editorial and Programming Director at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. Find her online athttp://susancoll.com/

ABOUT THE ABRAMS CREATIVE WRITING AWARD
The Fran Abrams Creative Writing Award honors both a high school senior who excels in creative writing and Fran Abrams, who worked tirelessly throughout her career to support the arts and humanities in Montgomery County. The Fran Abrams Creative Writing Award is a competitive award open annually to all Montgomery County high school seniors. The award includes a cash prize of $1,000 and an award reception featuring a reading by both the winner and a notable local writer. Visithttp://creativemoco.com/fran-abrams-humanities for more information.

ABOUT THE HAIMOVICZ VISUAL ARTS AWARD
The prestigious Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Awards Award is given to one Montgomery County high school senior who intends to pursue a career in the visual arts. The award winner is selected through a juried process based on the artistic merit of the applicant's work and the applicant's potential for a visual arts career. Visithttp://creativemoco.com/haimovicz for more information.