NEW YORK (AP)

Twelve teenagers won the Scholastic 

Art & Writing Awards' top prize Monday as the most creative young artists and writers for the year.

 The high school seniors will each receive $10,000 cash prizes. 

They will be honored at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in June.

The prize, awarded since 1923, has honored such prodigies as Robert Redford, Truman Capote and Sylvia Plath.

 The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, a nonprofit group, said a panel of artists, authors, educators and arts professionals sorted through more than 250,000 submissions to find the 12 winners.

 Colleges across the country also awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarships to 1,200 other applicants this year.

Five students won the top prize for writing: Amanda Gotera, 17, of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Mary-Kate Spring Lee, 17, of Harrisburg, Pa.; Richard Prins, 17, of New York; Carina Schorske, of San Rafael, Calif.; and Meredyth Sneed, 18, of Tulsa, Okla.

Five were recognized for their art portfolios: Abdullahi Farah, 17, of Owings Mills, Md.; Samuel Hooper, 17, of Timonium, Md.; 

Philip Kim, 17, of Westfield, N.J.; Joram Kwak, 17, of Edgewater, N.J.; and Marcos Ortega, 18, of Wauwatosa, Wis.

Two students were honored for photography: Kathleen Ching, 17, of New York,

 and Gabrielle Sirkin, 17, Middlebury, Conn.