The community room at the Palisades Branch Library was abuzz with excitement, anticipation and just a dash of nerves as participants in the 2014 Children’s Summer Creative Writing Contest gathered for the reveal of the contest winners.
Over the summer, 46 stories were written and submitted to the library by local students from grades 1-12, competing in five age ranges.
The theme was “Paws for Writing” for children’s entries and for teens, “Pause for Writing.”
Attendees munched Halloween cookies and slurped juice boxes as the winners were announced and the stories were read aloud.
For grades 1-2, Parker Keston of Marquez Elementary came in first with “Kazy’s Tail,” a story about a mischievous dog who chewed through the A/C wire on the “hottest day of the hottest summer ever.” Audrey Smith came in second and Lucas Brumbach won third place.
The winner for grades 3-4 was Ellery Preven of Palisades Elementary School, who won for “Storyo” about a pet book who eats “word bits and punctuation marks.” Alana Kamins took second place and third place went to Zoe Shin.
Sydney Forrester of Seven Arrows Elementary School won first place in grades 5-6 with her story “A Day in the Jungle.” Ben Volokh came in second and Rebecca Whitaker and Katherine Kihiczak tied for third place.
For grades 7 and 8, Avery Keare of St. Matthew’s Christian School won first place with “The Road.” Bella Pocknell came in second and Isabelle D’Amico came in third.
For the high school students, Kate Planting took the top prize with “Rewind.” David Grinsfelder and Sarah Enayati tied for second and McKenzie Wilkins came in third.
All participants received prize bags and first-, second- and third-place winners earned gift certificates to Diesel, A Bookstore in Santa Monica.
Winning stories will be available online at friendsofpalilibrary.org/ and in the library.
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