My little writers

We attended the awards ceremony tonight for a youth writing contest sponsored by our county library system and one of our indie booksellers. To describe the evening, I need only use two words: incredible talent!

The contest was open to children ages 5-12. (A did not win, but we enjoyed the winning stories and the illustrations by the local illustrators). I thought A would not have a chance because all the awards would go to the older kids. I was wrong. The younger kids cleaned up!

We are in for some steep competition if we want to publish our own stories when these kids get older! They were awesome! The judges chose stories that would have made good picture books.

There was this sweet boy who was about 5 or 6. When they called his name, he jumped for joy. As the illustrator read his story, he looked like the Energizer Bunny, doing quick, tiny bunny hops next to the podium. Each time the illustrator turned the page, he jumped faster and sucked his breath in anticipation. The librarian sitting next to me said it brought tears to her eyes. This excited little guy had a cute story about a duck and stole the show with his enthusiasm.

There was also a story about a purple turkey who outsmarted some hunters (our favorite!), a beautiful poem that most adults would be hard-pressed to write, an Abbott and Costello-type story about some guys whose boat is swallowed by a whale, a "chapter book" about a family that never went into their basement and discovered a genie when the crept down the stairs, and an adorable story about a flea who joined some sort of Flying Flea Fleet (the last line: flea end!) The only winning story by an older kid was this incredible fantasy story that the illustrator said would make a fantastic movie (he only read us part of it because it was so long.).

A took tons of pictures (and lots of Brad Sneed, who will be doing a presentation for our school district soon). Both A and S enjoyed the stories and the art (two of the artists did fabric collages.)

AND... proud mama moment--they both came home and went to work on new stories. S will be old enough next year and says she's entering too!