By Rachel Ratajski
The fifth 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 the library’s Teen 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 writing contest challenged teens to write an original short story based on their reimagining of a classic story.
A panel of 10 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 close competition, but the judges’ votes were tallied, and the winners are…
1st Place: “Teach Me How to Live Again: Based off of Selkie mythology” by Caelin Silitonga – Grade 11, Homeschool
2nd Place: “It Was the Fault of Fate: A Retelling of the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice” by Julia Bubp – Grade 11, Noblesville High School
3rd Place: “Skin Pale as Snow, Lips Red as Blood, Fangs Sharp as a Knife: A Snow White Story” by Emilia Taylor – Grade 10, Noblesville High School
Each winner was able to choose a gift card from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, or Starbucks. They also will get to attend a meet-and-greet with the three visiting authors for HEPL’s Books Build Bridges event on September 30. 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 much they enjoyed reading the different retellings, and one judge even said that a story was so sweet it made her tear up. I hope you all will continue to write and share your talent in future writing contests!