Indian-American student Aryash Shyam, 14, has won a $1,000 national writing prize for his historical-fiction story set in a Philadelphia print shop on July 4, 1776. The Pennsylvania ninth-grader was among four middle-school winners of the 2026 John Estey Student Writing Competition. He has also earned recognition for projects involving space research, artificial intelligence and robotics. Indian-American student Aryash Shyam, 14, has won a $1,000 national writing prize for his historical-fiction story set in a Philadelphia print shop on July 4, 1776. The Pennsylvania ninth-grader was among four middle-school winners of the 2026 John Estey Student Writing Competition. He has also earned recognition for projects involving space research, artificial intelligence and robotics.
