Girls Write Now has been honored with the prestigious 2009 Coming Up Taller Award from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award to founder and executive director Maya Nussbaum and third-year GWN mentee Tina Gao (pictured above) at the White House. Watch Tina's journey here.

This award distingushes Girls Write Now as one of the top 15 youth arts and humanities organizations in the nation. As a thank you to Mrs. Obama, we asked our girls to convey the significance of this honor in their own words. Read their incredible work here. And, watch Michelle Obama present the award to Girls Write Now on YouTube.

On Saturday, March 27, EILEEN FISHER , a Girls Write Now funder and CHAPTERS co-sponsor, will hold a benefit at all nine New York City area stores. Ten percent of all sales, all day, will be donated to Girls Write Now. Please save the date and spread the word!

Morgan Baden, Girls Write Now third-year mentor and Communications Co-Chair and senior writer and internal communications manager for Scholastic, was honored with one of four Corporate Mentor of the Year Awards from MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. Kyle Good, Scholastic's Vice President, Corporate Communications (pictured above, with Morgan), presented the award to Morgan at the ceremony emceed by Alan Schwartz, executive chairman of Guggenheim Partners, and held at Park Avenue Winter. Russell Thomas, Scholastic's Director, Internal Communications, and Morgan's mother and friends were also on hand to celebrate the award, which also included a $500 contribution to Girls Write Now. GWN second-year mentors, Alyssa Caplan, guest booker for CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, and Nicole Summer, media relations coordinator at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, were also nominated for the award. Congratulations, Morgan, Alyssa, and Nicole!