A first-grader who was born without hands has won a national penmanship award, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Annie Clark, a 7-year-old at Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin, Pa., got a trophy and $1,000 as one of two national winners of the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship from the Zaner-Bloser language arts and reading company.

Annie writes by wedging a pencil between her arms, the same way she feeds herself and even paints her toenails, the newspaper reports.

The national award is one of two given to students with disabilities --- the other went to an Ohio student with a visual impairment.

But no one even knew there was a special category for the disabled until after Annie had won top penmanship honors among all students at her school and the entry was forwarded to the state competition.

Contest organizers, reading a letter accompanying the entry, noted her disability and suggested that she also enter the special category, the newspaper reports.