WASHINGTON, DC, June 24, 2025—The American Immigration Council honored Luu Ly, an 11-year-old attending the Chapin School in New York City, with its 28th annual Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest award, which honors the immigrant experience.
Luu’s poem, “American Poem,” narrates her grandparents’ escape from Vietnam during the war, describing how they settled down as refugees in a small town in Louisiana. While they initially encountered hostility and suspicion, her grandmother went to become one of the first Vietnamese American teachers in the community, and helped build up a greater sense of belonging among their neighbors by sharing her family spring roll recipe. Luu still makes her grandmother’s spring rolls today, remembering her grandmother’s motto: “roll forward, always forward.” Read the poem here.
Luu continues to uphold her grandmother’s love for sharing and bonding around food, describing herself as a “proud New Yorker with a foodie’s heart,” always eager to explore new cuisines and share culinary adventures with family and friends.
The Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest challenges fifth graders across the country to reflect on and write about immigration and what it means to be a welcoming nation. At a time when increasing numbers of Americans are expressing disapproval over policies that emphasize mass deportation and detention of immigrants, the American Immigration Council is actively advancing educational programs that promote a more inclusive and welcoming vision for the United States.
Luu received her award at the 2025 Immigration Impact Reception, hosted by the American Immigration Council on June 20, in Aurora, Colorado.
The Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest is made possible due to the generous support of the MurthyNAYAK Foundation.
Luu, her family, and representatives from the Council are available to speak about the contest.
