Immaculate High School, Danbury, senior and Newtown resident Albert "AJ" Vitiello earned a Gold Medal in the Scholastic Arts and Writing national competition for a dramatic script, as recently announced by the school.

AJ said on April 10 that he plans to attend a national awards ceremony in June at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He also shared that he won other awards in the regional level of the Scholastic Arts and Writing competition. AJ explained entries that earn a Gold Key award move on to the national level of the competition.

His Gold Medal-earning dramatic script was called "Mind Games: A Screenplay." He said the piece is about a boy in a psychiatric hospital and his interactions with other patients and staff.

"What the competition has done for me is it has really given me an opportunity to get my writing out there," said AJ, who is the son of Suzanne and Albert Vitiello of Newtown.

This was his third year participating in the Scholastic Arts and Writing competition. AJ plans to pursue being a novelist. He hopes to be published in literary magazines next. He is also planning to attend The New School's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts in New York City in the fall.

AJ said he hopes the Gold Medal award is "the first baby step to getting my voice out there as a New York writer."