Two Marjory Stoneman Douglas High students will be honored Tuesday evening in New York City for their efforts to fight for gun control.
Cameron Kasky and Samantha Fuentes, along with a Washington, D.C. student, Zion Kelly, will be given the PEN Freedom of Expression Courage Award during its annual gala.
Kasky is credited with being one of the founding members of "March For Our Lives," along with being a major advocate in the wake of the MSD shooting massacre in February. Fuentes, who was shot in both legs and whose face was wounded by shrapnel, sat for interviews despite visible injuries that presented unabashed evidence of the effects of gun violence.
"As part of their campaign, Kasky, Fuentes, and Kelly have forthrightly confronted the outsized impact of gun violence in black, Latino, and poor communities and the hurdles confronting communities of color in having their stories heard and amassing the political power to drive change," according to PEN.
PEN is a literary and human rights organization that will also single out author Stephen King tonight.