{"id":28117,"date":"2025-05-02T09:26:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T13:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=28117"},"modified":"2025-05-06T16:21:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T20:21:37","slug":"marshall-celebrates-young-writers-with-annual-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/marshall-celebrates-young-writers-with-annual-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall celebrates young writers with annual contest"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Central West Virginia Writing Project has joined with the West Virginia Department of Education, the University of Charleston and Marshall University\u2019s June Harless Center in hosting the West Virginia Young Writers Contest, celebrating talented writers in elementary school through high school throughout the state.<\/p>\n

The contest was founded in 1984 as part of a commitment to writing in all subjects, as well as publishing, displaying and celebrating students\u2019 writing. Students in first through 12th grade were invited to submit entries in fiction, nonfiction, narrative, memoir or essay. First-place winners in each county advanced to a state-level competition.<\/p>\n

Statewide and county winners were recognized at Young Writers Day May 2 and given the opportunity to participate in workshops with local published West Virginia authors.<\/p>\n

They were selected by a panel of certified West Virginia teachers, who scored entries based on traits of effective writing such as ideas, organization, voice, word choice and writing conventions. All winners also demonstrated exceptional creativity and mastered the art of storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe West Virginia Young Writers Contest has honored excellent writing by our state\u2019s students for over 40 years,\u201d said Maggie Luma, director of the Young Writers Contest and chief of staff at Marshall’s June Harless Center. \u201cHaving an event like Young Writers Day celebrates the amazing talent of our students and gives them a platform for their writing to be heard. I can\u2019t think of a better way to recognize the hard work and masterful storytelling of our youngest writers than by inviting them to a beautiful venue like the University of Charleston and putting their work on public display.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that by hearing from published West Virginia authors in intimate workshop settings at the event and by being recognized on stage for their accomplishments, students leave Young Writers Day inspired to continue writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

First-place state winners receive $100, second-place state winners receive $50 and third-place state winners receive $25. All county-level winners are recognized at the event and are awarded a medal and a certificate for being the first-place winners in their local county.<\/p>\n

Awards went to:<\/p>\n

2025 State Winners<\/p>\n

Grades 1-2<\/p>\n

First place \u2014 Jeweliana Davis of St. Mary\u2019s Grade School in Harrison County for \u201cDolphins\u2019 Valentine\u2019s Day Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Christine Monell<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Jacob Treu of West Virginia Academy for \u201cMagical Journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Rose Jefferys<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Genevieve Fleming of Village of Barboursville Elementary School in Cabell County for \u201cSparkle\u2019s Adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Rhonda Dement<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grades 3-4<\/p>\n

First place \u2014 Jett Reesman of East Dale Elementary in Marion County for \u201cThe Icicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Becky Nichols<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Amelia Adkins of Harts PK-8 School in Lincoln County for \u201cBeach Days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Jackie McCann<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Zuri Alford of Glen Dale Elementary in Marshall County for \u201cSunflowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Aimee Neely<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grades 5-6<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Alyvia Barb of Mountaineer Middle School in Monongalia County for \u201cCoffee Shop Travels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Jody Groves<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Elaine Casenelli of Wirt County Middle School for \u201cNo Way Out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Sarah Harris<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grades 7-8<\/p>\n

First place \u2014 Camryn Lowther of South Harrison Middle School in Harrison County for \u201c1915.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Sarah Totten<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Lorie McKinney of Mountain View Christian School in Fayette County for \u201cBreaking the Echo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Meghan Bennett<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Duncan Bishop of John Adams Middle School in Kanawha County for \u201cDreams of Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Emily Thayer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grades 9-10<\/p>\n

First place \u2014 Raegan Feury of Nicholas County High School for \u201cWires for Veins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Cara Dorsey<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Kairi Thornburg of Oak Glen High School in Hancock County for \u201cOmnipotence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Joleigh Sollars<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Joanna Dong of Bridgeport High School in Harrison County for \u201cJust Maddie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Amy Lohmann<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grades 11-12<\/p>\n

First place \u2014 Ryan Johns of Independence High School in Raleigh County for \u201cSix Roses for Graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Milena Belcher<\/p>\n

Second place \u2014 Ashley Mendez of Greenbrier East High School, Greenbrier County for \u201cThe Man-Eater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Celia Moore<\/p>\n

Third place \u2014 Caspen McKone of Keyser High School in Mineral County for \u201cWhat Makes Us Alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher: Carrie Rotruck<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Central West Virginia Writing Project has joined with the West Virginia Department of Education, the University of Charleston and Marshall University\u2019s June Harless Center in hosting the West Virginia Young Writers Contest, celebrating talented writers in elementary school through high school throughout the state. The contest was founded in 1984 as part of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28117"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28141,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28117\/revisions\/28141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}