Today we present samples of winning entries in the 2012 Statewide Creative Writing Contest sponsored by the Anchorage Daily News and the University of Alaska Anchorage in partnership with the Alaska Center for the Book.

Prizes included cash awards, with $200 for the Grand Prize winner, a 5,000 word story by Aryeh Lax titled "River Take Me Home." A student at Steller Secondary School in Anchorage, Lax also won the fiction grades 7-12 category with the same story.

"River Take Me Home" and some of the other winning entries are given in abridged or excerpt form here. The complete stories, along with all the winning entries can be read online at LitSite Alaska, litsite.org.