By Rachel Ratajski
The fourth HEPL Teen Writing Challenge has concluded, and three winners were chosen out of ten entries from teens.
The Teen Writing Challenge was the idea of a student who shared it with theTeen Advisory Board (TAB). The TAB loved the suggestion and felt it was a great opportunity for teen writers to share their creative writing. The Teen Writing Challenge was born!
The Spring 2023 writing contest challenged teens to write an original short story with a love theme.
A panel of 12 judges made up of HEPL staff and teen volunteers on the Teen Advisory Board read through each short story and voted for their top three submissions based on the guidelines of the contest. This was no easy task, as the teens’ entries were all so creative and impressive!
It was a very close competition, but the judges’ votes were tallied, and the winners are…
1st Place: “Of Chrysanthemums and Daffodils” by Caelin Silitonga, Homeschool, Grade 10
2nd Place: “A Love So Haunted” by Tristian Ever, Homeschool, Grade 11
3rd Place: “Crocodile Girls Don’t Get Dates” by Maggie Hoppel, Noblesville High School, Grade 12
Each winner was able to choose a gift card from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, or Starbucks. Congratulations to our winners!
I am extremely grateful to all the teen authors who entered their work for this contest. Writing can be very personal, and it takes bravery to share it with others. Thank you for letting us read your stories! Many of the judges commented on how creative the entries were and that they had a lot of fun reading the stories. I hope you all will continue to write and share your talent in future writing contests!