Pictured left to right: Luna Landers; August Bates; Jenn Caron; Author and judge Megan Baxter; Annaliese Rowell; Emma Geraghty; Josefina Eliessetch; and Ellie Labrie-Lavalley.
Pictured left to right: Luna Landers; August Bates; Jenn Caron; Author and judge Megan Baxter; Annaliese Rowell; Emma Geraghty; Josefina Eliessetch; and Ellie Labrie-Lavalley. Credit: Courtesy

The Center for the Arts (CFA) is pleased to announce the winners of the third Annual Teen Writers Project Competition. This competition was open to local students between the ages of 12 to 18 in the categories of non-fiction, fiction and poetry.

Winners in the fiction:

First – Annaliese Rowell, Sunapee, junior at Sunapee HS – Restart (with thanks to Thomas Coverdale)

Second – Josefina Eliessetch, Sutton, freshman at KRHS – Made of Memories (with thanks to Jeff Maguire)

Third – Luna Landers, New London, sophomore at KRHS – The Jake Partridge Effect

Winner in non-fiction:

First – Jenna Caron, Sunapee, junior at Sunapee HS – Checks and Balances (with thanks to Thomas Coverdale)

Winners in poetry:

First – August Bates, Warner, freshman at KRHS – Small Towns (with thanks to Jeff Maguire)

Second – Emma Geraghty, Sutton, freshman at KRHS – Beautiful(?) (with thanks to Mrs. Cicoria)

Third – Elle Labrie-Lavalley, Andover, freshman at Proctor Academy – Flowers on a Sunny August Day

The entries were judged by local author and award-winning writer, Megan Baxter, who teaches creative writing at Colby Sawyer College.

Megan had these comments about this year’s winners: “Jenna Caron’s essay Checks and Balances demonstrates how a personal tone can create a persuasive argument. The essay manages to educate, as well as entertain the reader. AnnalieseRowell’s short story Restart is rich with details that make the setting and story feel real to the reader. The characters are deeply realized and written with compassion. The structure and complexity of this piece are mature and confident. August Bate’s poem Small Towns perfectly captures the kind of suffocation that young people can feel in isolated places. The poem’s structure and line breaks echo the setting’s sparsity. The choice of specific images makes this piece shine.”

The winners were presented with prizes, courtesy of CFA, and their submissions are posted on the CFA website centerfortheartsnh.org/students. Please check them out, along with winning submissions from previous years, and discover the talent that abounds in our youth community. Copies of the winning entries are also available at the CFA Office at the New London Inn.