High School Writing Contest 2018

Tri-Valley Writers Presents

7th Annual High School Writing Contest

“My Story, My Vision”

A dozen students from Tri-Valley high schools were recently honored for their essays, poetry and short stories that won awards in a contest sponsored by the Tri-Valley Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. The students were recognized at a Sunday ceremony in the Livermore Library on May 20, 2018.

The keynote speaker was Mitali Perkins. She has written ten novels for young readers, including “You Bring the Distant Near,” which won the Walter Dean Myers Honor Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. According to Perkins, students can use their writing to bring people together or to divide them. She said writing is a powerful tool and encouraged students to use it for pleasure, peace-making, and protesting.

“It takes great courage for students to submit writing to strangers to evaluate and comment on it,” Tri-Valley Writers President Patricia Boyle said. “I’m proud of the students who entered the contest and took the risk of sharing their work.”

Award Winners by Category

Essay

First place: Nivriti Krishnamurthy for “The Bird That Showed Me Beauty” (Dublin)

First place: Meghna Pamula for “The Permanence of Plastic” (Dougherty Valley)

Third Place: Arushi Avachat for “of honey and spice” (Foothill)

Honorable Mention: Ananya Varshneya for “In My Eyes” (Dublin)

Poetry

First Place: Melanie Kim for “The Colors of Jingxi” (Monte Vista)

Second Place: Annie Pollak for “Years” (San Ramon Valley)

Third Place: Jill Lee for “missing april showers, missing may girl” (Dougherty Valley)

Honorable Mention: Yuwei Dou for “Bike Riding” (Amador)

Short Story Fiction

First Place: Yuwei Dou for “Becoming Nancy” (Amador)

Second Place: Chloe Jeon for “The Silver Brooch” (Amador)

Third Place: Janice Liu for “Cherish” (Dublin)

Honorable Mentions:

Cassidy Cheng for “The Real Award” (Foothill)

Alison Wu for “Leafless Trees” (Amador)

Photo Gallery

Debbie Harris & Connie Hanstedt at Check-in

TVW President Patricia Boyle and VP Connie Hanstedt

Judges

Essay: Anne Koch and Patrick Coyle

Poetry: Hanstedt and Lisa Small

Short Story: G. Karl Kumfert and Sharon Svitak

Donate:

Tri-Valley Writers was selected to participate in “Conversation Pieces,” an invitational youth exhibition of banners conceived by Livermore artist Thomasin Dewhurst. Our banner honors notable writers associated with CWC and TVW, including Jack London, Andy Weir, Ann Parker, and Kanchan Naik. TVW’s student members and 2021 high school writing contest winners used their own prose, poetry, and artistic skills to create life-like images of each author. The back of the banner will have information about Tri-Valley Writers and bios of each of the featured authors. The exhibit will be on display at the Bankhead Plaza in downtown Livermore this fall, with a grand opening scheduled for October 17th from 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Kendra Murray & Ralph Scott, Squeaky Cheese Productions, December 18, 2021

Kendra Murray and Ralph Scott will present “He Said. She Said. We Said.” at the Tri-Valley Writers December meeting. The pair are narrators/producers in Squeaky Cheese Productions where duet/dual/solo narration magnetizes audiobook audiences. Kendra and Ralph will select up to three TVW members’ WIP or published novel submissions and take them to studio, then use the audio to illustrate what they look for as verbal cues to capture the writer’s vision. If you want your work considered, please email president@trivalleywriters.org for requirements for submission.

Join us on Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Four Points by Sheraton, 5115 Hopyard Road in Pleasanton. Check-in begins at 1:30 p.m. There is a two-step RSVP & Payment process:

An Email RSVP is REQUIREDat reservations@trivalleywriters.org by Wednesday, December 15.
Payment is REQUIRED (see below)

REGISTRATION DETAILS:

CWC adult members, $14; nonmembers, $18. CWC student members (ages 14-22), $6; student nonmembers, $10. Payment MUST be made via online below. Payment will be available after November 20th.

What if the girl next door got hold of a microphone? And nobody was around to hear her? Would there be a sound? As it turns out, quite a few. Kendra Murray, the voiceover actor who is never without an audience. Even if she comprises all of the voices in the room! In fact, you’d swear she was a lot of people. One after the other.

An award-winning producer with a get-it-done (with a smile) attitude, Ralph Scott produces audiobooks, audio theatre, scripted entertainment commercial spots, or pretty much anything within the live or recorded audio arena. The characters Ralph creates on the spot (we lost count just north of 83) are only bested by the number of children’s verses he has written since he was handed a cocktail napkin on a dare back in 1993. (That would be just north of 1,700.) Give him three words and he’ll compose a witty poem for you in under five minutes.

Member Premier & Publications

James Morehead’s poem, “Gallery,” which has been composed by Deon Nielsen Price, will premiere worldwide on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. PST, at the Presidio in San Francisco. “Gallery” will be performed by Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, accompanied by Paula Fan on piano. James will recite his poem before the performance. The program also features pieces set to poems by Dana Gioia (Poet Laureate – State of California), Charlene Derby and E. E. Cummings, and songs by Welsh and American composers. Free tickets are available. Here is the link: https://viewlesswingspress.com/2021/10/25/gallery-by-composer-deon-nielsen-price-and-poet-james-morehead-world-premiere-at-the-presidio-chapel-sun-nov-14/

Elaine Drew’s cozy medieval mystery Nun Too Clever was published on October 22, 2021. It is available in paperback and ebook. Elaine wished to thank Violet Moore for her expert and meticulous editing.

Monique Richardson’s memoir When Then Became Now was published on October 17, 2021. It is available in paperback and ebook.

Member Publications

Four Tri-Valley Writers’ members have pieces in the CWC 2021 Literary Review. Patricia Boyle for her poem, “Unidirectional Flow,” Connie Hanstedt for her poems, “Holding On for Dear Life” and “Letting Go,” Julaina Kleist-Corwin for her memoir, The Town Crier,” and Coralyn McGragor for her poem, “Rooted.” In addition, two members have their photos included: Monique Richardson’s “Concrete Love,” and Jordan Bernal’s “Kerry Coast.”

Connie Hanstedt’s poem, “Lost,” is a finalist in the 2021 San Francisco Writers Contest and will be published in the 2021 SFWC Writing Contest anthology.

Kathleen Moore’s debut novel, Elinormal, was published on October 15, 2021. Kathleen will be in conversation with Olympic Gold Medalist and NY Times Best-Selling author, Kristi Yamaguchi, on November 4, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.. Here’s a link to register.

The Poemsmiths of the Mojave High Desert have selected two of Rose Owens’s poems, “How Far to Bethlehem” and “They Pity Me in the Village,” for inclusion in the anthology, From Silence to Speech: Women of the Bible Speak Out. They had over 150 submissions and 91 poems were selected.

More Member News...

Date & Time:	Third Saturday (except July & August) 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Check the specific speaker post for more details)
Location:	Four Points by Sheraton (5115 Hopyard Rd. (Pleasanton, CA 94588)
Reservations:	Required: E-mail Reservations

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