23rd Annual Writing Contest Results

Seventy-nine stories out of 1053 entries were selected as winners in the 23rd annual writing contest sponsored by Southern Hills Counseling Center and the Friends of Southern Hills.  All sixth grade students through high school seniors in Crawford, Dubois, Orange, Perry, and Spencer County schools were eligible to enter the contest.  Below are the first and second place winners in the high school and middle school divisions.

Jordan Kemp's story "Wildfires" was selected as the first place winner in the middle school division.  Jordan is a sixth grader at Chrisney Elementary School.  Ivan Bland IV's entry, "Black Land" was selected as the first place winner in the high school division.  Ivan is a junior at Perry Central High School.  Sydney Schmitt, an eighth grade student at Jasper Middle School, was selected as the second place winner in the middle school division for her story "The Strike of Fear in my Heart" and Shelby Bettag, a junior at Forest Park High School, received the second place award in the high school division for her story, "Hatred, Love, and Luck".

Essay Topic:

During the past year, several environmental and natural disasters, such as flooding, tornados, and the Gulf Oil Spill, have occurred both within the country and on the coasts of the United States. The students were asked to write a story describing how one of these disasters affected a family and how that family handled the event. For example, describe the disaster, how the family was affected by it emotionally, how they felt about the problem, where they sought help, and what they learned. The story could either be fictional or based on a real-life situation.

The four top-winning stories can be read by clicking on the buttons below: