Library Wraps Annual Summer Writing Contest With Virtual Ceremony

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

When Palisades Branch Library selected the theme “Surprise Us!” for the Children’s Summer Creative Writing Contest, Friends of the Palisades  Library Board Member Kathy Slattery explained they did not have the events that would transpire thus far in 2020 in mind.

What is typically a celebration of a summer-long contest, where winners in five categories are announced and pieces read by actors Bill Jones and Christine Kludjian, that takes place in the library with an ice cream social was held over Zoom due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“This year, we did a citywide contest,” Slattery explained, thanking members of the Friends of the Palisades Library, also known as the Pacific Palisades Library Association, for their work coordinating this year’s contest and helping judge.

Winning submissions covered a wide variety of topics, from a tale of raising and releasing butterflies to the coronavirus.

“The children’s writing contest is a high point for many of us on the library board,” PPLA President Laura Schneider said. “This year it’s especially bright for us and we hope for you too.”

Schneider went on to explain that though this year posed a particularly difficult challenge due to the virtual nature of the contest, Slattery pulled it off. She added that the Friends of the Palisades Library is a nonprofit group that raises money to support the library through donated parking lot book sales and its patio bookstore—both of which are on pause due to the pandemic and now also a recent fire at the library, adding that they will be back, and “we can’t wait to see you when that time is finally here.”

The first set of prizes were awarded to Sribblers, participants in first and second grade, with Ella Kervin named third place, Quinn Everly Weingarten in second place and Leo Wolfberg in first.

“I did the story about fairies because I like fairies,” Kervin shared after hearing her story performed by Bill and Kludjian over Zoom.

Next were the winning selections in the Jotters category, those in third and fourth grade, with Gabriel Kromwyk in third place, Rohan Mukhopadhyay in second and Isabel Kromwyk in first.

Fifth and sixth graders, which fall into the Scrawlers category, included James Marks in third place, James Corman in second and Marlena Van Zandt in first.

“I thank the Academy,” Marks joked after learning he won.

Next were Scribes, those in seventh and eighth grade, with Hannah Benharash in third place, Audrey Yael Smith in second and Parker Keston in first place.

The show concluded with a reading of winning pieces penned by the Authors, which includes all high school-aged students, with Alana Kamins in third place, Ellery Preven in second and Jacob Crosby Galuten in first place.

Everyone who participated won a $5 Amazon gift card, and those who took home first, second or third place were awarded gift cards valued at $250, $100 and $50 to DIESEL, A Bookstore.

“It’s been a very rough time for the world, and the fact that you all came together and took some time to focus on writing your heart and allowing us to read your work continues to be an incredible joy and an incredible honor every single year, but most especially this year,” Kludjian shared at the end of the ceremony. “You don’t realize what you take for granted and the courage it takes to put out what you all did. This theme with Surprise, what you wrote was so surprising, it was so beautiful for us to read.”