Girl Born Without Hands Wins Penmanship Award

A young girl born without hands has won a penmanship award along with $1,000. Zaner-Bloser Inc., a publisher of language arts and reading textbooks, awarded 7 year old Annie Clark with the first ever Nicholas Maxim Award in a ceremony at Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin on Wednesday.

Nicholas Maxim was a fifth grader born with no hands or lower arms who entered the penmanship contest last year and caught the attention of the judges so much that they created a new category for students with disabilities.

Annie even demonstrated for everyone her ability to manipulate the pencil between her forearms and write after the ceremony.

When asked if she was nervous about all the attention she was getting, Annie replied, ” Not really, but kind of.”

Along with learning to write with her disability, Annie has also learned to paint, draw and color. She does not let being born without hands limit her and is far from being labeled handicapped as she can swim, dress, eat meals, and even open pop cans without help. The little girl also has no problems with using her iPod touch or computers.

Her future plans? To write books about animals.

Tom Clark and his wife, Mary Ellen Clark, are Annie’s adopted parents. They continuously encourage their daughter, letting her know she can do anything she puts her mind to. According to Mr. Clark:

“She’s an amazing little girl. It’s a shame because society places so many rules on how people should look, but the minds of these kids are phenomenal.”

Take a look at the following video for more.

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