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The markers on this map represent the 106 stories, poems and essays we received from young writers in 21 countries. The entries were thoroughly researched, creatively imagined, and beautifully written. They covered many cultures and a broad range of topics and concerns. Our judges agreed it was a very difficult choice!

First, second, and third place winners will receive cash prizes, as well as publication in the 2014 issue of DoveTales, an International Journal of the Arts. Finalists will be notified individually, and may be considered for future publication. All young writers will receive a certificate of participation.

Congratulations to all the winners of our 2013 Young Writers Contest!

Fiction Division

 

First Place:

“Caterpillars” by Jordan Dalton, age 16

Carmel, Indiana, USA

University High School, grade 10

 

Second Place:

“We Won’t Be Illegal Forever” by Nneoma Ike- Njoku, age 18

Mararaba, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Graduate of Loyola Jesuit College

 

Third Place:

“Endurance” by Kasturi Pananjady, age 15

Karnataka, India

National Public School Indiranagar, 10th Grade

 

Nonfiction Division

 

First Place:

“The Cherry Blossom” by Paean Yeo, age 15

Singapore

Crescent Girls’ School, Grade 10

 

Second Place:

“Unheard Voices of the Rain Forest” by Janani Venkatesh, age 19

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Graduate of P.S Senior Secondary School

 

Third Place:

“Fifth Grade Wisdom” by Vienna Schmitter-Schrier

Westerville, Ohio, USA

New Albany High School, Grade 11

 

Poetry Division

 

First Place:

“Day of the Draft—1940” by Jessica Metzger, age 14

Orlando, Florida, USA

Trace Academy, grade 8

 

Second Place:

“Waiting for Mermaid” by Peter LaBerge,

Stamford, Connecticut, USA

Green Farms Academy, grade 12

 

Third Place:

“In the Land of the Rising Sun” by Janani Venkatesh, age 19

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Graduate of P.S Senior Secondary School

 

2013 Young Writers Fiction Judge

William Haywood Henderson was born in Syracuse, New York, but quickly migrated west. He grew up mostly in Colorado, headed farther west for college, and earned a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley. He held a variety of jobs, including chef, copyeditor, technical writer, landscape gardener, and caretaker on a ranch in Wyoming, before heading back east to take a degree in creative writing at Brown University.

He attended Stanford University from 1989 to 1991 as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing, and he used the time to finish his first novel (Native) and start his second novel (The Rest of the Earth). He has taught creative writing at Brown, Harvard, and the University of Colorado at Denver.

He returned to Colorado in 1999—he missed the sagebrush, the mountains, and the sky. Since 2002 he has taught novel-writing at Lighthouse Writers Workshop. His third novel, Augusta Locke, was released by Viking in April 2006.

 

2013 Young Writers Nonfiction Judge

Phyllis Barber is the author of seven books (a novel about the building of the Hoover Dam, two books of short stories, two children’s books, and two memoirs, one of which, How I Got Cultured, won the Associated Writers and Writing Program Award for Creative Nonfiction in 1991). Her latest book, Gentle Fire: A Spiritual Odyssey is due out from Quest Books in May, 2014. It is a collection of essays based on her travels to a variety of spiritual practices, both traditional and non-traditional, in an attempt to find the Spirit that dwells in all people to one degree or another. Her desire is to help create harmony and understanding between people of seemingly opposing ideas and sensibilities. She has taught creative writing for the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program for 19 years, and is currently residing in Park City, Utah, where she writes, edits, and critiques manuscripts for other writers.

2013 Young Writers Poetry Judge

Michael J. Henry, MFA currently serves as Executive Director of Lighthouse, where he also teaches poetry and memoir and essay workshops. A former recipient of a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship and a PlatteForum Fellowship, his work has appeared in such places as Copper Nickel, Threepenny Review, 5280, Many Mountains Moving, Pleiades, Red Rock Review, Rio Grande Review, Georgetown Review, and Bloomsbury Review. In 2008 and 2009, he collaborated with Garrett Ammon of Ballet Nouveau Colorado to create two ballets, both set to poetry, entitled, When the Power Goes Out, and Intersection.

Michael grew up in Buffalo, New York, received a BA in English from University of Rochester and an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. In 1997, he co-founded Lighthouse with Andrea Dupree, who serves as program director.

A book of poetry, No Stranger Than My Own, was published by Ghost Road Press in the fall of 2008.

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