“This year’s winners, chosen from more than 600 submissions, are “Shattered Reflections” by Karina Hurtado, “Waking Up” by Nikhar Ahmed, “Grace” by Imani Josey and “Bowdlerism” by Jose Requena.”

“Written by Karina Hurtado (Schurz High School), Nikhar Ahmed (Northside College Preparatory School), Imani Josey and Jose Requena (Whitney Young Magnet High School), 2005’s dramas depict, respectively, the struggle to overcome a rape and pursue a college career (“Shattered Reflections”), a teenage girl’s struggle with leukemia (“Waking Up”), the choice between writing poetry and pursuing love (“Grace”) and the competing voices that can confuse a novice writer (“Bowdlerism”).”

“The four one-acts in Pegasus Players’ 19th annual festival seem subtler and more sophisticated–less tin-eared and less prone to ham-fisted didacticism–than the scripts of festivals past. Imani Josey in Grace never gets preachy as she tells the story of a young woman who learns the dangers of swimming with the sharks. And Nikhar Ahmed in Waking Up never resorts to melodrama or hysteria while showing a young woman coping with leukemia.”