Culture

Introduction: Alaska Dispatch News/UA 2015 Creative Writing Contest

Today we announce the winners of the 33rd annual creative writing contest sponsored by the University of Alaska and Alaska Dispatch News.

This year's crop of home-grown writers hails from across the state, from the Bering Sea to Southeast, Fairbanks to Kachemak Bay. They write in a range of styles, from breezy fantasy to hard-edged nonfiction. But most focus on topics that they know better than anyone else -- their own lives, their own thoughts and impressions, their own experiences with being Alaskans. With some $875 in prize money, the grand prize winner gets $200, the editor's choice receives $100, with $50 going to winners in the grades 7-9, 10-12 and open to the public. Winners of the grades K-2 and 3-6 earn $25. About 600 entries were submitted.

As is always the case with this popular contest, space is limited for what we can print. But additional winners can be read online at www.adn.com/section/we-alaskans.

Congratulations to our winners and to all the other Alaskans who took the time and effort to submit their best work to Alaska's longest-running annual writing competition.

Keep telling your stories.

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham was a longtime ADN reporter, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print. He retired from the ADN in 2017.

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