Poetry, Grades 4-6

Judge: Mary Hicks

First place: “Speaking Without Words”

In “Speaking Without Words,” the poet achieved a tone of soft elegance richly contrasting with a strong and clearly cadenced message. This is quite extraordinary for poets to achieve at any age. The reader discovers in each verse wonderful phrasing amid clear images and picks up the poet’s gems, one at a time, building a rich necklace of truth in the final two verses … a reward worthy of the read. A smart, quiet, graceful poem.

Second place: “Softball”

The poem “Softball” is deceivingly simple. In its eight short lines, the poet moves us with careful control from a static, unchanging, low flat chalk line to capture the game’s dynamic movements, from the slow penetrating stare of the pitcher, the wind up — with movement still contained in place with the “windmill circling” image — to the ball’s free flight, progressing to intensifying change of a “firecracker exploding,” placing readers right with the ball sailing over the “capped heads” of the fixed, distanced (static) audience — full circle from nonmovement (static) along the dirt of the playing field to dynamic explosions, high above the crowd. This short poem is rich in its quick sweeps of perspectives and sound contrasts just where they are needed the most: consonants that reveal static constraint (“covered field”) and words themselves (“dust”) to bold, strong sounds “Sailing/Over so many capped heads.” True sound extensions and progression used well. This young poet clearly knows the magic of baseball and how to contrast inaction into action with familiar words. A high achievement! The essence of poetry!

Third place: “Respecting the difference”

Comment: A wonderful sound sensory experience, tickling words right off the page. Lovely! A refreshing poem that blooms with description. Phrases plunge to the heart with clarity and mystery: We see a turtle’s “milk chocolate coat,” “contagious dark green” and “dodging over ripe lily pads.” If every adult would take this poem to heart, we would celebrate life’s journey together much more easily and honestly.

Honorable mention: “My Life”

A wonderful extended metaphor that was never dropped or lost once across the poem … a dream, a simple metaphor but meaning-packed here. This poet captures that moment when life stuns us … and we are whisked away to the depths of ourselves, frail and exposed. A solid exploration of truth! Hooray! This poem is memorable and will always be for me: “still standing”! More, more!

Honorable mention:

“Mountains Not Mud”

“Mountains Not Mud” is a strong journey between the positive and negative forces of contrast, providing the poem a natural tension. We feel the final “never again” in its measured reversals of image with lines like “Now mountains, not mud/The big house, not the cabin.” These excellent lines play up the importance of contrast in scale — large and small — permanent/impermanence — fixed and changing — new and old — found and lost — huddled starkly together. My college students could learn from this one!

Poetry, 7-9

Judge: Marjorie Kowalski Cole

First place: “I Am”

“I Am” is a long poem that maintains its freshness and energy from first line to last. It reminds me of Walt Whitman. The poem’s zest for life, surprising details and its “rhythm changes” add to its strength. I also found it surprisingly mature for a writer so young.

Second place: “Cat”

Who could not want to own this cat? She is vivid and real through her actions, the very essence of cat.

Third place: “Who am I”

“Who am I” is a surprising tribute to the poetic imagination with a fresh and honest voice.

Honorable mention: “Alaskan Spring”

“Alaskan Spring” captures in its quiet language the slow unwrapping of the landscape in Alaska this time of year and the importance of seeing and smelling dirt and water once again.

Honorable mention: “Absence of”

Comment: “Absence of” tackles a difficult subject with honesty and emotional impact.

Poetry, 10-12

Judge: Jerah Chadwick

I enjoyed reading the entries. I’d like to see the high school kids not so tied to rhyme as a discursive, driving force.

Poetry, open/adult

Judge: Marjorie Kowalski Cole

First place: “Bison Mothers: Birth Confusion”

“Bison Mothers: Birth Confusion” tells a story with drive and urgency, yet the poem is also beautiful. It is filled with the physical sensations of the experience and avoids sentimentality. It goes back and forth skillfully between the present and the past, between human and animal worlds. Every creature, animal and human, plays a vital role in this poem, even those who play no part in the final decision. Bravo to the poet.

Second place: “Departures”

“Departures” is a beautiful poem about a universal experience of very particular pain, that of saying goodbye to a loved one. While filled with strong emotion, it is clear and coherent. The poet accepts the goodbye but is not completely reconciled.

Third place: “Freewrite on a Blank Mind”

“Freewrite on a Blank Mind” is filled with vivid, original images, and builds to surprising truth.

Honorable mention: “Workman”

“Workman” delights us with an original and independent voice, like a good folksong.

Honorable mention: “Looking Back”

“Looking Back” is a beautiful reflection on the tradition of a particular Alaska job.

FICTION, 4-6

Judge: Rosanne Pagano

First place: “Why Alaskan Animals Camouflage” 

An inventive, appealing Raven tale that demonstrates good understanding of the elements of myth. Excellent use of precise language, scene setting and dialogue. Excellent attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling — thank you!

Second place: “Anti-reality”

From this story’s very first word — “No” — readers are in the hands of a confident, competent storyteller. Excellent, sustained use of detail and voice to advance the action while keeping us guessing how this tale will end. A satisfying, mature comment on childhood’s confounding middle years.

Third place: “Foot Prints”

A despondent narrator finds redemption in nature and escapes with an important truth: We’re in control of far less than we realize. Good detail and some strong imagery. Briefly explaining the source of the narrator’s pain would help put the narrative and resolution in context.

Honorable mention: “Little Red” 

Impossible to overlook, this hip-hop update of Little Red Riding Hood is packed with voice, detail, humor and enough action to put Saturday-morning cartoons to shame! Numerous typos, including some that made it hard to follow the action, prevented this entry from placing higher. FICTION, Grades 7-9

Judge:  Rosanne Pagano

First place: “Tree: A Legend of How the World Came to Be”

A fully realized creation story that competently weaves appealing characters, detailed fantasy and deft moralizing. The story builds logically and smoothly to its message that while decay is inevitable, it’s wise to appreciate nature while we can.

Second place: “Rude Awakening”

An Alaska Highway car wreck forces our narrator to confront existential questions and emerge stronger and better — except for a sore foot. Readers are rewarded with some strong phrasing: “clouds conjured rain from their bellies” and “I felt myself sliding, sliding under the wing of life.” Good use of voice to establish a character.

Third place: “Fear and Respect” 

Readers willing to overlook idiosyncratic syntax and a slightly confusing opening gain insight into the short, tragic life of Carl Johnson, an unredeemed gangbanger with a couple of scores to settle — including one with himself. Gritty writing dominates this disturbing look at self-perpetuating violence.

Honorable mention: “The So-called Parrot Cage”

A hapless narrator and silly Joey conspire to learn just what the genius new kid is building in his basement. Sirens, fake grass, a bucket of paint, a malfunctioning remote-controlled plane, a spy camera and a brother named “Z” all play a part here, but the ending doesn’t quite deliver.

Fiction, Grades 10-12

Judge: Kathleen Tarr

First place: “Falling Up”

This story succeeds on many levels. As a reader, I was immediately drawn into this well-written, fantasy tale, a timeless story about the protagonist, Ben, and his adventure through the Centurion Forest, a journey that ultimately fulfills a prophesy and leads to a clash between good and evil. The author’s powerful imagination is skillfully revealed in his characterization of the forest brownies, a wizard, and the ominous Lord Diriskull with his royal guard of blood-thirsty wolves. “Falling Up” takes us to that secret place inside ourselves where we want to escape the doldrums of everyday life and overcome our fears to dream of magic and heroic deeds.

Second place: “Black Angel”

“Black Angel” is a short story infused with symbolism and intrigue. In this captivating short story, a Czech music store owner tries to sell a rare viola, a shimmering, all-black, but deeply mysterious instrument, a carbon-fiber viola. But the viola’s existence seems to create many troubling emotions and questions for those who see it, or touch it. “Black Angel” is a skillful composition, unpredictable and original.

Third place: “Gods of Retribution”

The writer’s creativity and imagination were hard at work to create this make-believe world inhabited by dragons, dryads, brinshaws, vampire clerics, gods, and a girl who undergoes a transformation into a priestess.

Honorable Mention: “Skylight, Nightlight”

The re-telling of a beautiful moment — witnessing the aurora borealis — and rendered in some beautiful, poetic descriptions.

Fiction, open/adult

Judge: Craig M. Stinson

First place: “The Pillow Shot”

As soon as I finished this story, I knew it was going to be one of my favorites, if not THE favorite. I loved how simple, yet elegant the writing was, and although subject matter was heartbreaking, the imagery was powerful.

Second place: “Hardwired for Lust — Why Some Men Like to Shop”

This was a great take on the ageless ritual of boy meets girl. My only suggestion would be to punch up the first paragraph. I don’t want to stop down and read it twice; I want to be grabbed right away! Use that first paragraph, especially the first sentence, to sweep me headlong into your story.

Third place: “Escape Pod 2067”

Being a mild sci-fi nerd, my first thought when reading this story was, “Oh, here we go … I’ve heard this before.” But as I continued, and especially as I read it a second time, I really got involved in the story. Although the setting was familiar, it was a new and original narrative. I enjoyed it very much. One small suggestion: The acronyms got a bit confusing, and after all the work of trying to keep them straight, I was a bit frustrated to find the glossary on the last page. Maybe limiting the acronyms, or at least presenting the key up front would be less frustrating for the reader.

Honorable Mention: “You Will Always Hunt Buffalo”

I really, really enjoyed some of the writing in this piece and probably would have placed this as one of the top three finishers, but it just didn’t come together as a cohesive unit. I understand that it was meant to be somewhat disjointed, but it was a bit too disorganized. Sure, tell me that dream and reality are intermixed, but please tell me why, or at least give me a hint by the end of the story. All that being said, I see some real potential here and would like to encourage this writer to continue honing their craft.

NONFICTION, Grades 4-6

Judge: Mary Hicks

First place: “When The Fish Came”

This composition had outstanding perspectives and balance. Early the reader sees the “early morning landscape rock by,” bringing the reader right in. We are there, in the boat, from the start. We pleasantly find prose that extends and balances all at once in lines like “my job changed from picking the fish to pitching the fish.” Parallel written structures show the reader that the character is in control now, even if he ended the first sentence of the story “while the waves pounded on the sides knocking me off balance—off balance enough to witness the landscape rocking by. And in the end of the first paragraph, we find the line “there are no seat belts.” We know we are in for a rough ride ahead. But by journey’s end, we have instead learned what it is to fish and work until exhaustion, to the point where an emptied fishing net becomes a young man’s resting place. The use of a “thumbs up” signal was a wonderful thread and one that eventually brought closure to this endearing story of a father and son working together on a skiff. More! More!

Second place: “Crossing Thin Ice”

This extremely well-written short composition is vibrant with action-packed words … snow crunches … cars climb … water surrounds … a snowmachine thundered across the ice … spun sideways, flipping and slamming, and on and on … gifting the reader with an abundance of energy in a wonderful Alaska tale of a family facing danger and excitement during the daily routine of returning home. Aside from wonderful images, this young writer uses the double-beat phrasal verbs for superb end-focus in phrases like “took off” for the contrasting twin beats at a sentence’s end. Well done and exciting!

Third place: “The Urgent Situation”

Dialogue is used very well in this short composition and is one of the hardest aspects of storytelling to bring to life. But this story does just that. It freezes a moment in time that defines urgency in an often too self-centered, selfish world. This is a refreshing, revealing story told with precise honesty.

Honorable Mention: “My Mom’s Battle for Life”

This is an important story that focuses on the remedy of hope that a child’s love brings to a parent’s illness. The writing cares about its audience and topic to the point the disease is actually spelled out for us. The writer cares that readers know even the pronunciation of the rare, threatening illness. Moving from this outside formal, scientific term, the writer moves swiftly to the inside, to the fears and uncertainties of illness. This piece beautifully places the stone cold silence of bad-news-truth in a background of “sizzling” steaks, passing cars, and “barking dogs.” Frozen fear is placed before the background of a world carrying on, noisily through heightened senses. This story’s fabric is strong, woven with limited sensory tones, never overdone. This story brings up the absences of loved ones, separations that cut into family, changing it forever — putting these alongside the grace of a moment, taking the family dog shopping at Petsmart, a simple moment of love shown well … with people breaking rules so a dog can shop, too. This storyline teeter-totters between hope and courage and is a celebration of life and those we love.

Category: Nonfiction, grades 7-9

Judge: Sherry Simpson

First place: “The Mountain”

This piece was so effective because it combined several elements very well. The writing used strong, active verbs, and the vivid details and descriptions made me feel as if I were on the mountain, too, poised on the brink of what might happen next. The writer described her family members so that we knew something about them, not just what they looked like. And there was an insightful story here, too, as the writer told us how the ski run changed the way her brother thought of himself — and how it changed her, too. A sophisticated story.

Second: “The Importance of Holding Things”

“The Importance of Holding Things” uses evocative description of the writer’s bookshelf, but more importantly, it helps us understand what the items on the shelf mean to the writer. Some of the descriptions are especially fresh. I especially liked the lovely way the writer describes how the bookshelf has soaked up the stories that have rested there for so long, so that “It smells like rose petals, falling stars and bloody swords of heroes.” The portrait of the bookshelf creates a portrait of the writer.

Third: “Sheer Summer”

This piece was really a prose poem. The writer noticed rich, specific details and described them with an intensity that helped us understand how summer was a part of the writer’s life. The imagery was especially vivid as the writer employed sensory observation to help us see not just any summer. There were several surprising metaphors; a favorite was a description of kids as “the muses of summer, yelling and squealing like little pirates.”

Honorable mention: “Swimming During the Thunderstorm”

This story included a wonderful description of what it feels like to swim during a thunderstorm. The specific details — the fish brushing against a leg, and mud between the toes, for example — brought it to life.

“Monkey Business”

This piece included a whole story that helps show the writer’s excitement at holding a monkey. It did a good job of describing the setting, too, which helped make the story more real and immediate.

Additional comments:

“Sassy”: The writing in this piece was very strong. The writer used vivid verbs and adjectives to describe what it was like to take in a new kitten.

“The Friend You Want and Need”: One of the things this piece did well was to use specific examples of what makes a good friend, such as the humorous example of “spurting water or milk from your mouth.”

“Those Dang Butterflies”: This story gave me a real sense of what the writer was feeling as she described what it was like to make this long journey to a new home.

“Friends and Enemies”: The writer was honest and open, and that gave me an immediate sense of what kind of person wrote the piece.

Category: Nonfiction, grades 10-12

Judge: Sherry Simpson

First place: “How Long is a Zillasecond?”

This piece combines profound attention to detail and to event as well as a wonderful use of language to create a portrait of the conductor and of the musicians. The writer did a great job of incorporating multiple perspectives — the conductor’s, the writer’s and the musicians’. The writer doesn’t dominate the story but nevertheless we clearly hear the writer’s voice. The conclusion is perfect.

Second: “The Demonic Attributes of the Laundry”

This piece uses humor and imagination throughout to take a common joke about socks and extend it into something much larger. The clever use of language, image and idea along with the writer’s comic tone is truly skillful.

Third: “Testing the Tides”

I especially liked the way the writer took a ritual and thought about its larger meaning — not just the relationship between the between the two siblings but what undergoing immersion in cold water has meant to the writer’s development as a person. An insightful meditation.

Honorable Mention:

“Just Keep Living”

This piece examines the lessons in fear that emerged from experiencing dangerous events. The writer does a fine job of connecting childhood fears with recent encounters.

“A Place of Wonder”

This writer uses her skills with description and detail to create a portrait of a place and people who mean much to her.

Additional comments:

“Writer’s Journal” shows a strong use of specific action and detail to explain what it’s like to arrive in a new country and make friends. The writer’s skills of observation help convey her emotions very well.

“A Night I’ll Never Forget?” is especially good at using dialogue and creating scenes to convey the humorous and serious elements of the story.

Category: Nonfiction, open/adult

Judge: Rexanna Keller Lester

First place: “As powder rooms go, this ain’t bad”

A nicely told tale: A dilemma, a solution, nice description and a terrifically tidy ending. The sense of humor and vivid contrast describing the most practical of daily chores make this piece stand out.

Second place: “Lessons from the Bush”

While this piece at first seems to have no plot, by describing separate details, the writer very clearly tells a story. From the intriguing lede: ‘I’ve learned it’s better to brush your teeth with your finger and toothpaste than to use your toothbrush after your son has used it to fluff his mink and marten hides.” Through spot-on detail: “wool socks as Nordic eunuchs that refuse to mate.” To the ending moral that escapes being preachy: “I need a hug, who ate the last slice of fresh bread and where is the bag of clean eunuch socks.” This writer knows how to use spare words to describe spare life in all its abundance.

Third place: “Need”

Nice description of the intersection of human cultures with a good dose of nature for perspective.

Honorable mention: “Antarctica Transformation”

The surprise of something dreaded turning into something sublime is emotionally powerful. q