Monday, June 1, 2009 9:04 PM CDT
Students win Young Authors contest
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Stories ranging from “the nonfiction side” to “kind of creepy” stood out from about 50 entries this year in the Charleston school district’s annual Young Authors contest.
Rob Ulm, assistant principal at Carl Sandburg and Jefferson Elementary schools and the contest’s organizer, said the four winners were “clear cut” and definitely worthy of the selection. The students whose stories won the contest went to a state Young Authors conference at Illinois State University earlier this month.
“It’s an eye-opening experience for the students, especially those who have an interest in writing,” Ulm said.
The school district names winner in four categories, each covering two grade levels from first to eighth grade. Students submitted written pieces and a committee of representatives of each school in competition selected the winners.
This year’s winners were:
n Timothy Cho, second-grader at Carl Sandburg Elementary School, first/second grade representative for his story, “The Magnificent Life of Our 16th President.”
“I’m into the nonfiction side,” Timothy said of his decision to write a story about Abraham Lincoln. He said it covers Lincoln’s life as well as the search for his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
“It’s pretty long,” he said. He added that the Revolutionary War was his first choice for a topic but he thought it might take too long to do.
n Mac Edmonds, fourth-grader at Jefferson Elementary School, third/fourth grade representative for his story, “The Capsule.”
The story is about two friends who think they’ve found an alien space ship then find out that they’ve actually been tricked by friends, Mac said.
“I started writing it and I was interested in finding out about aliens,” he said.
n Kendall Oliver, sixth-grader at Jefferson, fifth/sixth grade representative for his story, “Trapped in the Towers.”
A boy named Zach has parents who work at New York’s World Trade Center and he’s there visiting during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Kendall said. It tells of Zach’s attempt to escape, he said, adding that he likes suspenseful stories.
“I just thought it would be cool,” he said.
n Hannah Blevins, eighth-grader at Charleston Middle School, seventh/eighth grade representative for her story, “An Unknown Dwelling.”
Hannah said her story is about a girl who wakes up and doesn’t know where she is at first, then discovers she’s in a mental institution.
“It’s kind of creepy,” Hannah said. She said her inspiration came from watching the movie “Misery” just before she started writing her story.
“I thought I might as well write it as something scary,” she said.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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