Local Students Rake in Awards from Writing Contest

Belle Goodson has a flair for the dramatic, a literary trait that shapes her storytelling.

The Pine Valley Middle School sixth-grader's knack for description paid off recently, when she nabbed a second-place prize in the California Writers Club, Mt. Diablo Branch's Young Writers Contest. Her short story of a young girl surviving San Francisco's "Great Quake" of 1906 was one of several award-winning entries from San Ramon and Danville students.

"This writing competition is a really good idea, and it was cool that they recognized kids for writing well," Belle said. "Beside the $50 (which was great!), I took away from the experience that I really am a pretty good writer. I just had to try it."

Ten pupils from San Ramon and Danville were awarded first-, second-, and third-place for their submissions in the county-wide contest for middle schoolers that drew 523 submissions.

Charlotte Wood Middle School student Amelia Harrison placed first in the category for sixth-grade poetry. Second and third place in the same section went to two Athenian students – Priya Canzius in first and Maximilian Jennings in third.

Winning poets from the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in the eighth-grade poetry division were Carissa Yen, the first-place winner from Iron Horse Middle School, and second-place winner Sejal Jain from Gale Ranch Middle School.

San Ramon's Andrea Ouyang, who attends Iron Horse Middle School, won third place in the seventh-grade short story category. Windemere Ranch Middle School student Sean Lee came in second among all the eighth-grade short story entries. First place in the eighth-grade essay portion of the contest went to Windemere Ranch scholar Varun Iyengar.

Winners took home cash prizes ranging from $25 to $100 at a May 15 dinner hosted by the writers club.

"Each year we receive more submissions and they are more sophisticated in quality," said Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, chair of the Young Writers contest, which began in 1995 in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District with 30 submissions.

Parents, like Belle's mother Barbara Goodson, said the competition is a way to foster young talent by rewarding students for expressing themselves.

"Belle has always written well, but when your children are young, of course you think they're the best," Goodson said. "Now that she has won a writing award, she has been encouraged to keep on expressing her creativity."

The club now offers writing workshops led by local authors at public libraries in the area.

"The contest is a great way to expose kids to literature and to foster their own imaginations," said Robin White, Belle's English teacher at Pine Valley. "It's great to see so much talent in these students' work." 

At a glance

For more information about the contest and the club that sponsored it, go to www.mtdiablowriters.org.