An 11th grader at the Washington County High School recently secured a nationwide title!
Last weekend, Junior Katie Smith won the 2024 National High School Mock Trial Championship Courtroom Artist Contest. The competition was held in Wilmington, Delaware.
In March, Smith won the State Championship for the second consecutive school year to receive the right to compete at Nationals. She has won the Region Title for three years in a row.
The National Mock Trial Championship held its inaugural competition in 1984. State winning teams from across the country, as well as in Guam, South Korea, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands annually gather to participate in the event.
With a purpose to promote an understanding and appreciation of the American judicial system through the competition and other endeavors, the Mock Trial Championship holds competitive judging for each role in a courtroom setting.
Four Georgia high schools have won the National High School Mock Trial Championship. Smith is the first Georgian to win the Courtroom Artist Contest that is associated with the mock trial.
Participating sketches must depict an actual scene from the courtroom that a contestant observes during the event. The art submissions may be in color or black-and-white with a color pencil, pen, pastel, or marker on an 11″ x 14″ paper in horizontal format.
In February, Katie Smith also competed in the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education Skills Competition in Atlanta for T-Shirt Design. The month prior, she won the Region Championship.
Last year, Smith won the GHSA AA Region 4 Title for Dramatic Interpretation at Literary Competition. Showcasing her stylistic range, she won Humorous Interpretation for GHSA AA Region 4 in 2024.
She also spoke on behalf of Washington County Public Schools at the Georgia School Board Association Annual Conference last year. Katie shared how public education has made a positive impact in her life to hundreds of Superintendents and Board of Education members from across the state.
