Though none of the shootings occurred in the schools, students are left coping with the death of their peers.

CNN: US - Gunshot violence takes toll in D.C.

Kathryn Erskine won the young people's literature award for Mockingbird, about an 11-year-old with Asperger's syndrome coping with her brother's death.

BBC: Patti Smith memoir wins US book award

"Of course Oscar will never be the same, having to live with the knowledge that he caused the death of the woman he loved, but he is coping as best he can with the support of his loved ones, " Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

BBC: Oscar Pistorius family denies 'suicidal' claim