Poetry, Grades 4-6:

Judge: Kristan Hutchison

First place: “Broken Pieces”

Specific images and repetition give the reader a chance to feel the physicality of this poem, before building to the final metaphor.

Second place: “Between Dreams”

Like haiku, the spare format contains a delightful idea.

Third place: “Mournful Mask”

The premise of the mask as the main character rather than the wearer gives this poem an interesting and unique perspective.

Poetry, Grade 7-9

Judge: Kristan Hutchison

First place: “My Father”

This poem impressed me with the strong sensory detail used to create a vivid scene and allude to a beautiful parent/child relationship. A very mature piece and a delight to read.

Second place: “Dancers”

Solid with imagery throughout, the most compelling part of this poem is the unexpected and transformational ending.

Third place: “I am From”

The “I am From” formula led to several delightful poems, but what lifted this one above the others were a few lines that juxtaposed surprising and interesting imagery. I particularly liked the last five lines and kept coming back to: “I am from shyness and sharp angles and the most fragile sunsets over mountains.”

Poetry, Grades 10-12

Judge: Amber Flora Thomas

“My Backyard”

I enjoyed many aspects of this poem, especially the imagery and close attention to detail in this world of the backyard, which is both personal and universal somehow. I was surprised by the turn at the end of the poem when the speaker mentions the “buried” bird and the “sister’s toys.” These kinds of details told me so much about the speaker and this small world both at this moment and at earlier moments. Then the way the poem becomes so simple in the last few lines and I see the poet with her “notebook” fully immersed in this natural world.

Poetry: Adult Open Category

Judge: Therése Halscheid

First place: “Grieving over Goldengrove”

In “Grieving over Goldengrove” the poet’s senses are heightened and utilized as “all fresh thoughts” … a phrase which also appears in the first line of the poem. Visual depictions are grounded in pleasing language: river grass, buttercups, alfalfa, velvety dust, blooming hollyhock. Sounds which are soft and gently transport the reader to the natural world, to Goldengrove, and hold us there even as the poem turns to a colder season, a tragic end. Cadence is steady. The poem is carefully controlled.

Second Place: “Seed Starts in Waxed Paper Cups”

I marvel over poems which bring small acts alive so that we revere their wise happenings. This poem successfully does that. The simple start of a seed, of the writer observing the outer world from inside a quiet greenhouse, then scratching the ground as it thaws … makes sacred our daily world. The poem itself is a seed. I like the calm. I enjoy the cadence. We should plant its message inside us.

Third Place: “Ceremony”

In “Ceremony” we see not only a gathering of young widows, we feel them. For me, the strength of this poem is its emotional quality, a tone which works on more than one level … the external gathering of mourners by the sea, but also their internal world, their interior loss. A loss for their spouses but also of their own lives, the early choices. The language is spare, yet stirring. The poem opens and closes with a symbolic sea, the coming and going of life and dreams.

Honorable Mention: “Seldovia”

I like the voice of this poem, for it holds within it the talk of an Alaska Native, and a wise one at that. The speaker in this poem is one that knows and shares ancient ways of looking at land. The earth is alive in this poem, is personified … “as when the mountains grasp the inhabitants, as when the sun has problems being seen.” The actualizing of earth goes far back to our First People, to forgotten ways of being. And when lost wisdoms surface in a poem, we are renewed. The topography of the poem uses no capitals or punctuation, which may serve the reader in a natural ski-like descent as the poem takes us from sky to ground, from the mountains to the guarding ocean.

Honorable Mention: “January Night”

“January Night” offers a dark night of sensual images … images that take risks … such as tree trunks that are stiff as a corpse and stepping stones of snow. To speak of the common in uncommon ways is certainly one challenge the poet takes on. How can I create images in ways that have never been done before? is a question a poet might ask of themselves while writing. Although this poem may risk-take with images, its presentation takes a formal approach: the first word of each line is capitalized, line breaks are end-stopped, the poem has a form, is written in couplets. For myself, I very much enjoy how it captures Alaska, a place I have recently come to know. The mention of Northern Lights, of cabin doors, the parka and boots … they return me to a place that feels familiar, a place that I long to return.

Honorable Mention: “Awakening”

I was attracted to the angle of approach in this poem, the idea of a partner revealing their secret life, in a sleeping state. The one who lies next to him, is privy to his “other world” by way of his dreaming aloud. The slant is original. Rather than revealing the secret lover through narration, this writer’s angle of approach is to reveal truth through the dream state rather than waking life. In “Awakening” we experience both partners, their feelings, though they never face each other with open eyes. They awaken in other ways, and though they know the truth, both go on, alone-together. Nothing is settled.

Fiction, Grades K-3

Judge: Holly Chism

First place: Ricky the Sled Dog Racer

This original story has echoes of both Pecos Bill and Jack London. The hero, Ricky, created his sled from unusual elements and gathered wolves for sled dogs to race the Iditarod, and wound up both rescuing all the finalists and winning. The plot was engaging, to say the least.

Second place: “The Egg”

This story has, like all good fairy tales, a disobedient child who gets lost in the woods after dark through her own actions, and an unusual rescuer who leads her home. The dialogue and the plot twist at the end were well thought out and well done.

Third place: “Lily’s Life”

This story reminds me a lot of the different Davy Crockett tall tales. It’s a worthy successor in the tradition of frontier tall tales.

Honorable mention: “The Birth of Hale, the Inventor: A Tall Tale”

This story demonstrates a budding awareness of the problems that the entire world faces and a desire to find a way to help make the world a better place for all. It is a sweet story.

Fiction, Grades 4-6

Judge: Holly Chism

First place: “Raven the Trickster”

This story is a well-told, well-written example of a Naive American trickster story. We see the trickster hurt by his own trick and making good by more tricks. The particulars of the story are original and engaging.

Second place: “Him”

“Him” is a good illustration of a young person discovering that life is transient. The dialogue between the characters is well done, and I could hear the speech patterns.

Third place: “Lightning Bolt Massacre”

The imagery in this story is powerful enough to pull the reader in. The sequence of events is well told and believable.

Honorable mention: “Unhappily Ever After”

This is a cute story with a moral. It demonstrates a really advanced level of social consciousness and poetic justice.

Fiction, Grades 7-9

Judge: Andromeda Romano-Lax

First place: “Friend or Foe”

The author of this realistic and confident teen portrait lays the groundwork for a longer story or novel by including the seeds for rich character development and an effective plot. Dialogue and description successfully reveal the protagonists’ personalities while moving the story along; backstory is effortlessly conveyed. The conflict at the story’s heart — a girl’s trip to New York City to meet her absentee father — interests the reader from page one.

Second place: “Sophie’s Kitchen”

An emotional turning point and clear character development are the highlights of this piece about a young girl distrusting — and later, accepting — a new stepmother. The author carefully describes family “artifacts” that tell the story of changing relationships. Believable dialogue demonstrates mature empathy for the stepmother in the story.

Third place: (No title given) — “Synook” story

A three-part chronology add dimension and interest to this creative, millennium-spanning story about the gift of a whistle from grandfather to grandson. The author portrays clan responsibilities and family ties with warmth and respect.

Honorable mention: “Forever”

This heartfelt story, which reads like memoir, details the development of a close friendship and the donation of a kidney between characters.

Fiction, Grades 10-12

Judges: Heather Carreiro, Holly Rubino and Josh Rosenberg of Globe Pequot Press

First Place: “Hales”

“Hales” successfully captured a slice of adolescent life with which readers of all ages can identify. The honest narration reminded the judges of J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield.

Second Place: “The Maze”

“The Maze” won points with the judges for its imaginative twist on the classic coming-of-age story.

Third Place: “Angel of Gold”

The imagery and the simple but valuable message about appreciating and caring for the beauty around us were nicely rendered.

Honorable Mention: “King of Shadows”

This section of a potentially interesting fantasy novel creatively blended myth and legend.

Fiction, open/adult

Judge: Stuart Cohen

First place: Cate’s Conversion

This story was especially strong in its first section, in Alaska, where the earthy details of life in the wild are crisply and evocatively related, not in the showy way that outsiders might write it (“Wow! They’re cutting up trees with chainsaws!”) but rather in a way that reveals the rich texture of a life of manual labor and physical obstacles. Very matter of fact and very interesting. It also reveals a lot about the characters and their life. A sense of suspense is maintained and by the time Cate goes home, we’re hooked. Her conversion is handled in a subtle, off-hand way, and the background events are revealed quietly in a way that explains the opening of the story and the protagonist’s virtual exile. We understand by the end that the clearing of roadblocks that opens the book is what’s happening on the internal level also. Very skillfully done.

Second place: “Journey of an Inch”

This story displayed a very smooth and coherent development of the themes of the story as the events of the plot inched forward. The author skillfully integrated the minute physical activity in the story’s present with flashbacks to the past and was able to keep a sense of suspense and get us interested in the character. Technical information about sniping seemed authentic but not obtrusive, and the development of the character was logical and engaging. An interesting story!

Third place: “The Creature”

This story was really charming. An alien in a motel swimming pool: just can’t beat that. It was appropriately weirdly written and I enjoyed the good-natured fun of it.

Honorable mention: “Enough is Enough”

We enjoyed the realistic portrayal of the no-account skipper and his slimy scam. We all know guys like this, though we don’t usually have the pleasure of seeing them consigned to Davy Jones’ locker.

Nonfiction, Grades K-3

Judge: Jackie Pels

First Place: Christmas Eve Memory

Warm and rambunctious and affectionate, just like the family in the kitchen. The penultimate paragraph is particularly delightful — the opposite sequence from what one might expect (love the first sample, tired of it by the third). This appreciative reader has a cooking question: Do the shells get shaped like tiny, tiny tacos before or after frying? (Such a wonderful Alaskan touch: likening frying canolli dough to frying fish!) And a comment: If the “taco” is tiny, tiny, does it really resemble a huge, huge piece of candy? Maybe the candy could have some other adjective.

Second place: (2-way tie):

In My Field: A good opener! Many writers would have begun with “One day in the summer 2 years ago” and run the risk of putting the reader to sleep. “I’d rather be saved than have my flip flop” is a treasure of a sentence, and coming back to that stung eye is a tidy ending. The beginning-writer spelling is not a distraction here — it almost goes with the scary, jittery action.

Fue Fue the Bat: Another scary animal story, very well written. “About the size of an avocado” is an unexpected but apt description - the reader imagines color and huddled shape as well as size. (Perhaps the scariest part is the unmentioned fact that wild animals that behave strangely might be carrying a contagious disease and might not pay attention to “don’t bite me”!) Readers surely will wish that they lived in a place that has pie feasts — and they might be as curious as this reader is about Fue Fue’s name.

Third place: (2-way tie)

“My Sword,” “Sky”

Honorable Mentions: “Elizabeth”

“Genevieve’s Photo”

“The Locket and the Charm Bracelet”

Who could rank these five nicely composed pieces, inspired by the same assignment but each with its distinctive voice? (That’s called a rhetorical question.) Some favorite passages: Sky’s heartbeat, “bumb bumb bumb ... like a lullaby.” The reminder to savor life, as “Elizabeth always did.” Elizabeth, whom “you could trust ... all of the time.” That is a true tribute.

Missing a grandparent we’ve never known is an experience many people share, but to wish that grandmother could know “who I am” is particularly well-said. And great-grandmother surely appreciates a grand-girl who thinks of her as “Jane, a sweet woman I know.” The sword, “solid in my gripping hand.” That is excellent — makes the reader feel the clenched fist. (But the reader might wonder if the writer meant that the buffalo stampeded or ran in all directions rather than “ran away,” since the writer was able to “move out of the way” and kill one.)

Nonfiction, grades 4-6

Judge: Larry Campbell

First Place: “Grandma”

The writer moves deftly moves from elation to sorrow. And the story within the story helps turn this tragic tale to bittersweet memory. Nicely done.

Second Place: “This Pace”

Sensory descriptions are vivid, tactile. I can almost feel the sweat, hear the crickets and taste the spice. Good example of descriptive writing.

Third Place: “The Value of Memory”

Good descriptions throughout. Writer waits until the very end to confirm the fate of the subject of this piece, and it works.

Honorable Mention: “The Upper Deck”

Interesting style of composition. Each sentence stands on its own, and the varying lengths of each sentence make this read almost like verse. Gutsy move on the writer’s part.

Honorable Mention: “Smothered by Love”

Stark, raw depiction of a family’s sorrow. Just a little hard to track the characters and their movements.

Nonfiction, grades 7-9

Judge: Larry Campbell

First Place: “How to Chop Kindling”

More than a story about chopping wood. This is a very personal father/daughter tale that really allows the reader inside the daughter’s head. We understand and feel her desire to be seen well in her father’s eyes.

Second Place: Untitled entry

The reality of a fisherman’s life - the risks, the back-breaking labor, the dashed hopes — become more pronounced in this description through a youth’s eye. Vivid descriptions help paint the picture. It’s like a youngster’s version of “The Old Man and the Sea.”

Third Place: “My Hero”

This tale reveals just how important that one special school teacher can be in our lives. Lots of emotion here. Would like to have known better what Mr. Kirby looked like.

Honorable Mention: “Reality Check”

Good rendering of how we feel inside when peace turns to tragedy.

Honorable Mention: “The Leaves of Madison”

Good, tactile descriptions of sights, sounds and smells make the reader feel like they are there with the writer.

Nonfiction, Grades 10-12

Judge: Jackie Pels

First place: (Very Nearly) The End of the Road

An excellent job of turning research and interviews into the writer’s own story, personably told and full of quirky detail (some more subtle than others — “bakery bread” tells us that there’s also such a thing as “home bread”). Readers might wonder at people who spend decades crossing paths in such a setting and never really become acquainted, but the writer does a good job of explaining. The only discordant note is the ending. “Oddly appropriate”? This is a scene from an old western movie, merely in 21st century garb! The closing use of “western” and “west” seems heavy-handed after the deft handling of earlier material. But that and the occasional small lapse within are easily dealt with (a run-on sentence on page 2, a missing article on page 4 before the “awkward-looking attempt” at eating the veggie cheese melt, which in the writer’s voice would more likely be an “awkward attempt”). Congratulations!

Second place: Saying Good Night

A snapshot of an unusual friendship that manages to walk the difficult line between sentiment and sentimentality. Even the restorative climb through nature is realistic: ants and noisy engines, devil’s club and stumps amid the beauty. And a universal question, particularly well put: “How does death decide?”

Third place: Some of What is and Something Jimi Hendrix Sang

This piece begs the question: Is it nonfiction? The closing seems to respond to that query, but as with the “disconnected snapshots” it follows, it proffers and withdraws almost simultaneously. The intention must be to keep the reader on edge, but the writer has the skill and the language to build something less ephemeral. Meanwhile, there are sentences and phrases to cling to: “greasy green-black flannel,” the “sunset wedding in Spain.” “How much Time do we have?” “He stands in exaltation and simultaneously salutes the heaven, the infinite seas, and his achievement.” Indeed.

Honorable Mention:

“Just a Palm of a Hand” Good attention to detail, good description of water and water-panic, and gratitude couched in heartfelt terms. But the writer would have done well to save the expression “rare as a clean pis” (generally spelled “piss”) for another day; it simply doesn’t go with a reminiscence of someone in the “floaties” stage of life. The opening paragraph is as damp and dark as anyone could want — even a gray trailer — but its last sentence leaves us wondering. Did the full bag routinely break loose and splat? Or would it do that if something else happened?

“First Class Or Cargo?: “I remember” is not always the best way to begin a story, but this opening sentence is an exception — “not on purpose” hooks the reader immediately. The pause after Grandma’s raised eyebrows is well-paced — we are as startled by her “thundering” as the siblings are. And the bus driver’s incomprehension and the siblings’ dismay is a funny scene. (Are these brothers or brother and sister? We don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.) Overall, the piece is a little more conversational than it needs to be; it deserves a bit of polishing. (Reading aloud often helps.)

Nonfiction, Open/Adult

Judge: Chad Stebbins

First place: “One Small Mistake”

I couldn’t put this story down, as I anxiously waited to see if huskies Peter and Peggy would be reunited with their owner. I felt the writer’s anguish as she searched up and down the Alaska Highway, praying pleadingly for her dogs to find their way back to her. The kindness of strangers and Providential help ultimately play a key role in this dramatic narrative. The writer uses vivid descriptions and short sentences and paragraphs to make the story more readable, but the plot itself is enough to make this a remarkable page-turner.

Second place: “Rattling the Chain”

I didn’t expect to be taken on an Asian safari when I picked this entry up, but immediately I was hiking into a wildlife refuge looking for a small group of endangered elephants. Both educational and captivating, this entry has me fighting biting bugs and thorn bushes, watching elephants wallowing in the mud and tearing banana trees apart, and pitying those creatures who had been drugged and worked to near death hauling logs out of the forest. One elephant had stepped on a landmine and lost half of its foot. The writer’s final sentence sums it all up: “Though my luggage made it through Hong Kong, Seoul, Dallas, and Portland, a piece of my heart will never make it back.”

Third place: “Raven Re-makes the World”

After her father dies of liver disease and her mother of Parkinson’s disease, the writer reminisces about family fishing expeditions, taking part in anti-war protests at Stanford, being grounded for the summer after her mother reads her diary, and “emotional tornado” fights with her parents. “I never became the daughter my mother had imagined,” she writes. “She never became the mother I imagined, the one who would become my best friend, understand the real me, and apologize for her mistakes as a mother.” Anyone who has disappointed a parent or been let down by one will appreciate this story.

Honorable mention: “Dear Old Dad”

A moving tribute to the writer’s father, spanning his life from age 19 to being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 74.

Honorable mention: “Baggage”

The writer uses a delightful anecdote about getting her luggage switched at the airport and ending up with a pair of Army boots rather than a formal dress as a jumping off point. n