{"id":29466,"date":"2026-05-11T13:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29466"},"modified":"2026-05-11T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:06:10","slug":"marshall-honors-winners-of-annual-young-writers-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/marshall-honors-winners-of-annual-young-writers-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall honors winners of annual young writers contest"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Central West Virginia Writing Project at Marshall University has again teamed up with\u00a0Marshall University\u2019s June Harless Center, the West Virginia Department of Education and the University of Charleston to host the West Virginia Young Writers Contest, promoting writing in the state\u2019s K-12 schools.\u00a0\u00a0Winners at the elementary, middle and high school levels were honored during a Young Writers Day ceremony May 8 at the University of Charleston. As part of Young Writers Day, students also had the opportunity to participate in workshops with local, published West Virginia authors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe West Virginia Young Writers Contest has honored excellent writing by our state\u2019s students for more than 40 years,\u201d said Maggie Luma, chief of staff for the June Harless Center at Marshall and director of the Young Writers Contest. \u201cHaving an event like Young Writers Day celebrates the incredible talent of our students and gives them a platform for their creative voices to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that by hearing from published WV 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

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<\/sup> 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

Winners 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.\u00a0Statewide first\u00a0place winners receive $100, second\u00a0place state winners receive $50, and 3rd\u00a0place state winners receive $25. County-level winners are awarded a medal and a certificate.<\/p>\n

Local organizations who sponsor the event include Headline Books, WV Writers, Inc., A New Chapter Bookstore, The West Virginia Book Company, and the Central West Virginia Writing Project at Marshall University.<\/p>\n

Winners included the following:<\/p>\n

First and second grade:<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Karson Artis, Wayne Elementary School in Wayne County, for \u201cMy Favorite Place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Dylan Lipscomb, Kingwood Elementary in Preston County, for \u201cThe Lonely Octopus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Preston Petrice, Beverly Elementary School in Randolph County, for \u201cThe Buzzer Beater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third and fourth grade:<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Joshua Ramsey, Talcott Elementary in Summers County, for \u201cMarvin\u2019s Smelly Problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Brice Ullom, Sand Hill Elementary in Marshall County, for \u201cSelling Eggs for My Nest Egg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Mason Karp, Lewis County, for \u201cA Family Tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifth and sixth grade:<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Jaela Starr, Burch PreK-8 School in Mingo County, for \u201cBlank Space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Isaiah Fitts, Summers County, for \u201cStanding Strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Adair Cheek, Berkeley County, for \u201cSquare by Square.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventh and eighth grade:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Gio Maniscarco, Darvis Thomas Middle School in Tucker County, for \u201cThe Pyro Accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Zoey Sturm, Wood County, for \u201cCar Crash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Ava Holman, Lewis County, for \u201cWarmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ninth and 10th grade:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Chanel Dowell, Elkins High School in Randolph County, for \u201cOtra Vez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Amber Arora, Cabell Midland High School in Cabell County, for \u201cAn Echo of Lost Memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Paige Totten, Greenbrier County, for \u201cThe Hands That Made Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

11th<\/sup> and 12th<\/sup> grade:<\/strong><\/p>\n

First place: Kerri Childs, Lincoln High School in Harrison County, for \u201cLove Doesn\u2019t End After Death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second place: Hailee Johnson, Tyler Consolidated High School in Tyler County, for \u201cThe Barrell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place: Deedra Groves, Brooke County, for \u201cMorning Peaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

The Central West Virginia Writing Project at Marshall University has again teamed up with\u00a0Marshall University\u2019s June Harless Center, the West Virginia Department of Education and the University of Charleston to host the West Virginia Young Writers Contest, promoting writing in the state\u2019s K-12 schools.\u00a0\u00a0Winners at the elementary, middle and high school levels were honored during […]<\/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-29466","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\/29466","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=29466"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29468,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29466\/revisions\/29468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}