Young girl born without hands wins national handwriting contest

A 10-year-old girl who was born with no hands has won a national handwriting contest. 

Sara Hinesley, a third grade student in Maryland, earned the Nicholas Maxim Award for cursive writing in the 2019 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, according to ABC News. 

The honor comes with a trophy as well as $500 in prize money and an additional $500 in education materials for her school. The third grader is set to receive the award at her school, St. John’s Regional Catholic School, in June. 

“I felt excited and proud,” Hinesley told “Good Morning America” when talking about the award.{mosads}

The Nicholas Maxim Award is given annually to students who have have a cognitive delay, or an intellectual, physical or developmental disability, ABC News noted.

A group of occupational therapists judged the participants in this year’s contest. 

Hinesley uses both of her arms to grip a pencil in order to write. She told ABC News that she loves creating art, and that she views cursive writing as an art form. 

Hinesley, who was born in China, was adopted by the Hinesley family when she was 6 years old. She could only speak and write in Mandarin upon arriving in the U.S., though she picked up English quickly. 

Her mother, Cathryn Hinesley, said that her daughter has elected not to use prosthetic hands. 

“All of her life she has figured out ways to overcome that challenge and it’s really made her a very strategic thinker,” Cathryn Hinesley said. “Before she takes on a task she tends to plot out how she’s going to accomplish it and is usually successful.”