Seven Year Old, Born With No Hands, Wins National Handwriting Contest

Like many children, Anaya Ellick loves to do well in school. She enjoys reading, writing, drawing and more but unlike most other children; Anaya was born with no hands. She hasn’t let that hold her back though and her penmanship is so spectacular that she’s just won first prize in a national handwriting competition.

If that wasn’t amazing enough; Anaya doesn’t have prosthetic hands. Anaya tried prosthetics and felt that they were hindering rather than helping her do the things she wanted to do. Her arms finish in tapered wrists and Anaya writes by clutching the pencil between her wrists. Anaya’s mother, Bianca Middleton, says that her daughter taught herself to balance pencils, crayons, and markers when she wanted to learn to write and to draw.

As you can see Anaya’s method produces some incredibly neat handwriting. To win the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Penmanship, Anaya had to compete against 50 other children, nationally, in the same grade as her.

Anaya studies at the Greeenbrier Christian Academy (GCA) in Chesapeake,Virginia. Tracy Cox, the principal of GCA says; “Anaya is a remarkable young lady. She does not let anything get in the way of doing what she has set out to do. She is a hard worker and has some of the best handwriting in her class. Her determination is an inspiration to all of us at GCA.”

The Nicholas Maxim Award is open to students who have cognitive delays or intellectual, developmental, or developmental disabilities; it is managed by Zaner-Bloser the education specialists who run several educational competitions each year. The prize is judged by a team of occupational therapists. It was founded when Nicholas Maxim entered the company’s cursive writing competition and his entry was considered outstanding by the judges. Nicholas was born without both his hands and lower arms.

The competition’s judges say they were stunned by Anaya’s handwriting and said that it was of exactly the same standard as they would expect from someone who had full use of their hands.

For her outstanding efforts, in the competition, Anaya collected a Champion’s trophy and $1,000 in prize money. Anaya’s win also means her school receives a voucher from Zaner-Bloser to use on resources for all children and teachers.

According to Anaya’s hometown newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, this isn’t going to be the last of her achievements. She’s already decided to take up karate after being inspired by her cousin’s karate skills. Her school indicates that she’s already a highly talented artist with skills beyond her age range and that she’s keen to learn about anything and everything.

The school held a special assembly to present Anaya with her award. The teacher who led the assembly drew parallels between Anaya’s story and that of David and Goliath in the Bible. David showed that despite overwhelming adversity it is possible to triumph through hard work and so has Anaya. The assembly finished with the line; “You have no excuse for sloppy handwriting.” It would be hard to disagree after seeing what Anaya has accomplished.