Lancer Spotlight 2/8/22: Four win county Young Authors Contest

After winning at the school level, Alexis Simmerman, Chloe Little, Lily Hanson, and Amelia Newton all placed in the county level competition for the YAC (Young Author’s Contest).

The Young Author’s Contest is a writing competition headed by the State of Maryland Literacy Association (SOMIRAC), operating at the elementary, secondary, and high school levels.

Students from each school can enter either a short story or a poem for school representatives to judge and then produce second and first place winners for each grade level in each category. Those school level winners are then judged by two teachers from the county, current or retired. Once the judging is complete and the scores are added, a first and second place winners are announced for each category.

This year, LHS did extremely well, producing four of the 16 county winners moving onto the state level competition.

“When I found out I had placed, I was very happy, but surprised a little bit as well–in a good way. I felt accomplished because something that I had submitted with no expectations had gone places I wasn’t expecting it to go!” Little said.

Not only is this a fun competition for the students to participate in, but it’s enjoyable for the judges as well. 

“I like the contest because I am always very impressed with our students’ creativity. We get a wide variety of topics and themes in the entries we receive, and it is great to see students’ perspectives on the joys and challenges that life can bring. We get to read a lot of thoughtful and inspiring work,” Andrew Velnosky, the secondary chair of the middle school contest said.

And the judges aren’t the only ones who enjoy the contest. Teachers love being able to read student’s works. They are always interested to see what kind of writing techniques their students can use and all the creative ways they can use what they have learned.

“My favorite part of the Young Author’s Contest is being impressed with the beautiful figurative language students use.  Intentional metaphors and imagery in short stories and similes in poems are so evocative and such fun to read. It’s also really cool when students that are currently in my English classes submit something, and I see a new side to that writer, whether it’s through the insights of their poems or the authentic writer’s voice in their writing,” said school coordinator of the YAC and English teacher Mary Troxel.