Physically Challenged 7-Year-Old Clinches Top Honor at Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Manuscript Penmanship
Anaya Ellick, a Virginia first-grader, was heralded as the winner in the Zaner-Bloser's competitive Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Manuscript Penmanship, which was joined in by more than 50 other participants.
"We looked at her writing and were just stunned to see how well her handwriting was, considering she writes without hands. Her writing sample was comparable to someone who has hands," shared competition director Kathleen Wright as per ABC News.
Ellick won the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Penmanship judged by occupational therapists. The category is especially meant for students with cognitive delays or intellectual, physical or developmental disabilities.
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It was Tracy Cox, the principal of Greenbrier Christian Academy, who encouraged Ellick to take part in the contest, which accepted entries from kindergarten to the eighth grade.
"There is truly very little that this girl cannot do… she is a hard worker. She is determined. She is independent. She is vivacious and a no-excuses type of young lady," Cox revealed in an interview.
Meanwhile, Ellick's first-grade teacher, Joan Stalnaker, has commended the girl for being determined.
Ellick doesn't use prosthetics. Despite this, though, she is still able to scribe words and letters in an almost perfect manner, prompting her to win the award.
Ron H. White, the founder and superintendent of Greenbier, revealed that despite her disability, Ellick gets no special treatment from her friends and classmates.
"I don't think Anaya thinks of it as an obstacle," he told ABC News.
It was in the entry form for the competition where Ellick's handwriting was put to test. Apart from writing her name, she also wrote the English pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," which contains all the letters of the alphabet and is often used for touch-typing practice.
"I get to write about my ideas," Ellick wrote in response to the question in the form, asking her what she likes best about handwriting.
