Students In Cashmere, Chelan, Twisp Awarded For Creative Writing

The winners of this year's Teen Short Fiction Competition in North Central Washington are taking a bow.

Librarians from NCW Libraries’ branches across the region along with members of NCW Libraries’ Teen Library Council judged what’s being called an all-time high number of competitive entries.

First place goes to Cashmere High freshman Grace Hodges for her work “Stag”.

Grace Hodges, a freshman at Cashmere High School

One honorable mention goes to Twisp Liberty Bell High freshman Orlo Parkinson for his piece “Like Love, Like Lightning”.

Orlo Parkinson, a freshman at Liberty Bell High School, Twisp

The other honorable mention goes to Chelan homeschooled sophomore Ella Stepanov for her work “The Sound of Silence”.

Ella Stepanov, a homeschooled sophomore from Chelan

The three students will share the $200 cash award for their original fiction writing.

The Teen Short Fiction Competition was started 13 years ago by the group Write on the River, but NCW Libraries has been a partner for the past five years.

NCW Libraries Teen Services Manager Jessica Lynch says the competition has expanded from Write on the River's original focus on Chelan County.

“They had between 10 to 15 participants each year,” said Lynch. “And since we’ve partnered with them, we’ve been able to expand that reach since we cover five counties in North Central Washington. And now the last two years we’ve gotten over 35 participants each year ranging from across our region.”

Students in grades 9-12 in the NCW Libraries’ service area of Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Grant and Ferry counties are eligible for the competition. The students can attend public or private school or can be home-schooled or in the Running Start program.

Lynch says the competition is meant to encourage students to pursue writing as a craft.

“That’s kind of the hope is that developing your skills doing short fiction can help you possibly become a writer later on, either creatively, or any kind of creative writing, developing out those skills, meeting a deadline and having a word count and the whole thing.”

The competition was started by New York Times best-selling author Chelsea Cain, who was the 2011 Write on the River Conference keynote speaker. Cain supplies the funding for the award money.