![\"Silver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_2026-05-12AD0458SilverKnightAwards.JPG\" "\\"Silver")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Silver Knight winner Gabriela Gonzalez-Orbegoso, from Schools for Advanced Studies West Campus, celebrates after winning in the Athletics category as she stands with Alex Mena, Executive Editor of the Miami Herald & el Nuevo Herald and Dana Banker, Managing Editor at the Miami Herald during the 68th Silver Knight Award Ceremony at the James L. Knight Center.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
From working with hospital therapists to create a pediatric music program to starting a mobile library housed in a car, thirty South Florida high school seniors were celebrated Tuesday night for going above and beyond in their mission to help others.<\/p>\n
The night\u2019s honorees along with their families, friends and supporters packed the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami during the 68th annual Miami Herald\/el Nuevo Herald Silver Knight Award ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really happy that what I do has been recognized,\u201d said North Broward Preparatory senior Colette Marquez, 18, said of her Silver Knight for Art. \u201cIt\u2019s surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the event labeled the \u201cOscars\u201d for local high schoolers, 15 students from Miami-Dade and 15 from Broward and Monroe counties were honored with a Silver Knight statue, a $2,000 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation and 25,000 American Advantage miles. Others who received honorable mentions earned a $500 scholarship and an engraved plaque.<\/p>\n
One by one the winners took the stage, dressed in sparkly gowns, pressed suits and shiny shoes. The crowd shouted as each student walked up to get their prize. One woman from the audience screamed, \u201cYou look so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The categories \u2014 art, athletics, business, digital and interactive media, drama, English and literature, general scholarship, journalism, mathematics, music and dance, science, social science, speech, vocational tech, and world languages \u2014 were judged by a panel of five leaders in each respective field. There were 43 judges in Miami-Dade and 37 judges in Broward and Monroe.<\/p>\n
For her achievements in Science while attending American Heritage Schools in Broward, Camila Galicia was awarded the Silver Knight for founding the nonprofit Saving Our Sisterhood. Galicia noticed so many women were alone while accompanying her mother to breast cancer treatments. She raised more than $7,500 to purchase care packages for survivors undergoing chemotherapy or post-mastectomy recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother is here today,\u201d Galicia, 18, said. \u201cI won this for her and for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it was inspiring to be surrounded by so many hardworking, compassionate students, and she was so excited to be recognized for her hard work.<\/p>\n
Lucas Himawan, a student at Cardinal Gibbons, was awarded the Silver Knight for Drama after he attended and reviewed more than 50 shows at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, including Broadway productions, classical concerts, jazz performances, operas and ballets.<\/p>\n
He was named stage manager in his junior year, overseeing every student within a production, and created a program that cut down the time it takes to assemble the next day\u2019s schedule from one to two hours to around 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Himawan, 18, said he never thought drama or performing arts would take him this far. No matter how hard life gets, keep pushing, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel just completely ecstatic,\u201d Himawan said.<\/p>\n
Kate Tessler was awarded the Silver Knight in the Digital and Interactive space. The Cushman School student in Miami-Dade is building an app, BeSafe, designed to allow students to anonymously report potential safety threats or concerns about other students.<\/p>\n
In four out of five school shootings, at least one other person had knowledge of the attacker\u2019s plan but failed to report it, according to data compiled by the Sandy Hook Organization.<\/p>\n
Tessler, 17, said this is \u201cjust my beginning,\u201d and she couldn\u2019t express how excited she was about the victory and about the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel actually like there\u2019s a loss of words,\u201d Tessler said.<\/p>\n
This year, there were 678 students nominated from 90 schools across Miami-Dade County. There were 269 nominees from Broward and Monroe across 35 different schools.<\/p>\n
John S. Knight, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former publisher of the Herald, instituted the Silver Knight Awards program in 1959 to honor those who excelled in academics and community involvement. Some notable winners include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Bill Conti, who is best known for his film scores in “Rocky\u201d and \u201cThe Karate Kid\u201d franchises.<\/p>\n
A total of 1,555 Silver Knights have been recognized as of 2025. And this year a new group of 30 soon-to-be graduates accepted the award, posing the question: what might they achieve in the future?<\/p>\n
These young people represent the very best of South Florida \u2014 \u201cinnovators, changemakers and problem-solvers whose impact reaches far beyond the classroom,\u201d said Alex Mena, Executive Editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilver Knights remind us that the future is already in capable hands,\u201d Mena said. \u201cAmong them could very well be the next Jeff Bezos, or a groundbreaking artist, or a scientist or a civic leader \u2014 but what makes them truly extraordinary is their dedication to improving the lives of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 10:04 PM.<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Miami Herald<\/p>\n