Every year, the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest invites students worldwide to turn creativity into climate action. Through writing, music, and visual art, participants explore how environmental issues shape their lives and communities. The 2024 theme, “Tell Your Climate Story,” encouraged young artists to share personal perspectives on a changing world.
Among the standout voices was TMS student Nayoon Lee (’30), whose work has garnered international acclaim. What began as a personal reflection on climate change evolved into two award-winning submissions: a Gold Award in Performing Arts and a Silver Award in Creative Nonfiction, accompanied by $1,750 in prize winnings.
Nayoon Lee’s journey through the contest began almost unintentionally.
“Winning the Gold and Silver medals felt quite surreal, to be honest,” she said. “I never even wrote the personal essay with the intention of submitting for the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest—I had actually written it for a prompt that asked how climate change impacted one’s life.”
Lee explained that she has long viewed climate change as a hidden crisis—one that quietly shapes daily life. “Writing was the best tool I had to get all the jam-packed thoughts and emotions across,” she said. “Drafting the essay was like an internal script waiting to be put on paper, finally flowing out.”
Soon after completing her essay, Lee discovered that Bow Seat’s theme aligned perfectly with her piece. Around the same time, she learned about the contest’s Performing Arts division. “I had this original melody that had been stuck in my head for a while,” she recalled. “From there, I drafted the lyrics, wrote the composition, and gave the final performance. The whole process flowed out sort of like a story.”
“It was a huge, pleasant surprise when I got the email that I won awards in both categories,” Lee said when talking about the results. “I was incredibly grateful that my voice was able to reach others through the competition and impact such an urgent problem.”
“The win definitely encouraged me to continue supporting the cause and also gave me solace in the current dire situation,” she added. “No matter what I do, I’ll never stop writing. And of course, I’ll never stop advocating for the fight against climate change until it no longer needs to be said.”
Her passion for writing and advocacy didn’t stop there. Lee was later named the $1,000 Grand Prize Winner for the international Bluefire Writing Contest, and she also received one Gold Key, two Silver Keys, and four Honorable Mentions from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
For Nayoon Lee, writing is more than a skill—it’s a way of seeing the world.
“Writing is the closest thing to magic I have in my life,” Lee said. “Blink once, and it’s a question, prodding me to explore the depths of my own mind and unlock the things I’ve subconsciously hidden away. Blink twice, and it’s an answer, whispering its rich secrets from the vault I didn’t know existed. Blink three times, four times, five times, and every time I open my eyes, it takes a new, fluid form. It is the one thing that can truly be absolutely anything I could think of—live in one world for a while, live in another for some more, rewind to this world and lend my voice to my beliefs—I’ve loved it ever since I can remember.”
Lee describes her relationship with prose as inseparable from her identity: “By now, my relationship with prose is tightly woven, it’s basically a part of me now—every scratch of a pencil is a breath, every word on a page is a heartbeat.”
This year, Nayoon collaborated with her sister, Soeun Lee (’27), who shares the same passion for writing. Together, they won a Notable Award in the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest. Offering advice to young writers, Soeun emphasized the importance of resilience and perspective: “There’s no need to feel forlorn when a piece you love gets rejected. Rejection is like a breeze making its way to you. You see it, feel it, and let it move on. As long as you still find something to treasure in your writing, the piece has value. Because with time, improvement, and a bit of luck, even the breeze can shift in your favor.”
As Nayoon Lee continues her writing journey, she hopes to keep using her words to illuminate environmental issues and inspire action. Her achievements are a reminder that even the youngest voices can make a powerful impact—one story, one song, and one spark of awareness at a time.
