Florida Keys schools now part of the Silver Knights Awards honoring high school seniors

High school seniors in the Florida Keys will be eligible to participate for the first time in the annual Silver Knights Awards, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo competition that recognizes both academic excellence and commitment to students’ schools and communities.

Created in 1959 by John S. Knight, then-publisher of the Miami Herald and founder and editor emeritus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, the Silver Knight Awards judge high school seniors in 15 disciplines, including art, athletics, business, digital media, drama, English, general scholarship, journalism, mathematics, music, science, social science, speech, vocational tech and world languages.

The Silver Knights initially began with students only from Miami-Dade County; the competition opened to Broward County students in 1984. The Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald in December opened it to Monroe County high school seniors. Students can attend traditional public schools, charter schools, private schools or be home schooled.

“This is a major win for our high school seniors who are devoted to community service and excellence,” Raymond Dueñas, McClatchy’s director of community affairs, said in a Dec. 15 email to Keys schools officials. McClathy owns the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and FLKeysnews.com, among other media properties.

Each year, the competition is capped by an awards ceremony attended by hundreds of students and their friends and families during the last Thursday in May at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami.

Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward, who had been urging Keys schools officials and business leaders to have Monroe County students compete in the Silver Knights, said he was thrilled to hear the news.

“It’s going to be so nice to see Monroe County kids be considered,” Ward said. “It’s just a great thing for Keys schools.”

Bob McFarlin, senior vice president of technology and security at McClatchy, who has been active in organizing Silver Knights programs through the years, said expanding the program to the Keys made sense because of so much untapped academic potential just south of Miami-Dade.

“I’m excited to see our esteemed high school scholarship program expand to the gifted students in Monroe County. It’s entirely possible that the Keys are the home to the next Jeff Bezos, Ketanji Brown Jackson or Vivek H. Murthy and the moment is now to uncover their potential,” McFarlin said. “We’re delighted to expand the 2024 Silver Knight Awards program to Monroe County.”

Bezos, Amazon’s founder, won the Silver Knight in science in 1982 as a Palmetto High senior. Brown Jackson earned an honorable mention in the drama category in 1988 as a Palmetto High senior. Murthy won a Silver Knight in general scholarship in 1994, also from Palmetto High.

Other past winners have included Bill Conti, who scored the “Rocky” films and “For Your Eyes Only.” He won a Silver Knight in music from North Miami High in 1959, the first year of the competition. Ted Hendricks, who played 15 seasons in the NFL and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, won a Silver Knight in athletics in 1965, representing Hialeah High. Frances Cook, the first U.S. woman to head a diplomatic post in the Middle East, was the Silver Knight winner in social science in 1963, representing South Dade High.

The Keys schools that will participate in the Silver Knights are:

▪ College of the Florida Keys Academy Public Charter School in Key West

▪ Somerset Island Prep in Key West

▪ Key West High School

▪ Marathon High School

▪ Coral Shores High School

“I have heard wonderful things about this program. We are very excited to nominate some Hurricanes for the various categories,” said Laura Lietaert, principal of Coral Shores High School on Plantation Key, whose mascot is the Hurricanes.

Since the beginning of the program, nearly 1,500 students have won a Silver Knight Award. Each of the 30 students who won a Silver Knight Award in 2023 received a $2,000 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation, plus a medallion and a Silver Knight statue.

They also received 25,000 miles from American Airlines for one round-trip flight in the continental U.S.

Each of the 90 students who were named Honorable Mentions received a plaque and a $500 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation.

A total of 83 judges across different professions interviewed the 750 nominees, which was 89 more students than the 661 student nominees in 2022.