One staged a rock concert to help raise awareness of juvenile diabetes. Another founded a charity to install wells in rural South Africa. Another drew on her own experiences with a severe skin disorder to help kids with similar conditions.

If this year's Silver Knight Award winners have one quality in common, it is this: compassion, mixed with ambition and seemingly endless reserves of energy.

Fifteen winners and 45 honorable mentions from Broward County schools were named at a ceremony Tuesday night at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. The same number of teens from Miami-Dade were also honored at the ceremony, which featured a jazz band, raucous cheers and giant smiles.

''We're here to honor you, the seniors who go above and beyond, making a tremendous impact on our communities,'' said David Landsberg, publisher and president of the Miami Herald Media Company.

The awards, which are presented by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, honor students who have excelled in 15 categories, from art to foreign language to new media to vocational-technical. While they are academic standouts, the winners are also distinguished by the countless hours they put into service projects.

CLOSE TO HEARTS

Many of the winners tackled issues close to their hearts, whether it was trying to find a cure for a family member's illness or using personal experiences to help others.

Sarah Benckenstein, a student at Coral Springs High, was inspired to raise money for juvenile diabetes research because her older sister was diagnosed with diabetes at age 10.

Sarah, the winner in athletics, worked hard to stage a concert to raise money -- only to see it canceled because of thunderstorms. But she came back with the benefit of experience and organized a bigger show.

Her efforts raised $6,200 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

''This is just an amazing, gratifying reward for everything that I've done in high school,'' said Sarah, 18, who is involved with softball, basketball, soccer, cross-country and track.

Edward Pino, an AP Scholar in calculus, remembers what it felt like to be in the hospital alone due to asthma when he was younger. The Hollywood Hills High student started programs to connect high school students with kids hospitalized at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood.

He also distributed toys, clothes and gifts to impoverished children in Ecuador.

Edward, the mathematics winner, said he has been interested in being a Silver Knight winner for a few years now -- and knew his chances were looking good when he saw the camera operator focus on him before his name was announced Tuesday night.

''It's a big honor,'' said Edward, known around school as ''Mathman'' since taking on the superhero persona during Homecoming week.

Megan Barron, a student at Coral Springs High who won in the general scholarship category, knows how difficult it can be to grow up with a condition that makes you stand out. She has a skin disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa, which causes blistering and scarring.

JUNIOR COUNSELOR

After attending camps for kids with skin disorders for years, she became a junior counselor, hoping to provide an example for kids of the possibilities that await them, and showing them ''that it was OK to live beyond the scope that they were told they would be able to,'' she wrote in her application.

''To get honored for it is just mindblowing,'' Megan said Tuesday night. ``I got an award for something I would have done anyway.''

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