Alexandra Isbell was in Normandy, France, during her gap year when inspiration struck. After going on World War II and D-Day tours, she wrote and directed a short film set during the war about three aristocrats who quarrel over who should move a dead soldier lying on the fringe of their property lines.

After submitting the dark comedy to the 2023 YoungArts competition, a program of the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists, Alexandra learned she had received a prestigious finalist award. Now a freshman studying writing for film, TV, and emerging media at Ithaca College in New York, the Washington Connections Academy graduate said she can’t envision her life without writing — and now filmmaking.