Creative Writing Contest

This section of the Susitna River will be behind the dam of the proposed Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project on the Susitna River north west of Talkeetna. The dam site is at mile 184 of the Susitna River. 120814

Grand Prize and First Place, Nonfiction, Open to the Public : The Island (excerpt)

The Island was never mine -- leased but not possessed. The only proprietary interest that mattered belonged to the River. Cartographers gave it no note, this five-acre kidney of land tucked in close but not contiguous with, the shore land my wife and I purchased in 1973. We never were consulted ...

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Archive by category ''Creative Writing Contest

ARTS AND CULTURE

2013 Creative Writing Contest: List of Winners

Winners and honorable mention entries in the 2013 Creative Writing Contest, sponsored by the Anchorage Daily News, University of Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska Center for the Book.
ARTS AND CULTURE

Editor's Choice and First Place, Poetry, Grade 10-12 : That Mountain Village

Mother -- long ago you awoke on the golden corn husk matete that you called your bed; curled on the dirt floor inside that callous stick house.
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Fiction, Grade 3-6: Swallow Cove

Pebbles clatter under my feet as I sprint in my heavy rain boots with no direction in mind. I am fuming from the argument I just had with my parents. I stop at the end of the beach and turn to the dark path. My parents have forbidden me to ever set foot on the path without them. But I don’t ...
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Fiction, Grade 7-9: The Price of Innocence

I could see the immense desperation in the rough man’s brown eyes as he exasperatedly struggled to maintain his grip on the cold steel bar - the only thing keeping him from plummeting into the water a few meters below him. This was his test: he had to hang onto the steel bar long enough for ...
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Fiction, Grade 10-12: Whistle

I don’t remember when I first met Whistle, but she and I went galloping along the edge of the bluff behind my house every evening without fail. In the winter the snow crunched beneath our boots; in the summer the mud squelched and mosquitoes droned, and we squashed the pests in our quick hands...
ARTS AND CULTURE

First Place, Fiction, Open to the Public : Evan of the Rains

Evan Banks always came with the rain. He would show up, just after dinner, his shirt speckled and slick, and he would sit in our den and drink scotch with my father. A nightcap, he called it, as if that made it all right. As if that made him not sixteen.
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Story, Grade K-2: The Sea Voyage

Chapter 1: The Voyage Once there were three sons. Their Dad was the King of England. One day when he went to work, the three boys built a boat. First, they got the materials, then they made the boat. The next day, when their Dad went to work again, they sailed off...
ARTS AND CULTURE

First Place, Nonfiction, Grade 3-6 : Katrina

Brooke Dexter, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Chugach Optional Elementary, wrote a journal-style essay about her feelings on the suicide of a former Chugach student and friend of her older sisters, Katrina Bryant. This excerpt describes an evening memorial service held at the school.
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Nonfiction, Grade 7-9: The Roof

It was the beginning of my kindergarten year, and I had just been invited to one of my first sleepovers. It was also the very first time I would be visiting my friend Brenna’s house, and I was ecstatic. I had spent the late summer evening packing everything I would need, and stuffing it all ...
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Nonfiction, Grade 10-12: Awaiting the Lights

As the darkness engulfed her, she became overwhelmed with the feeling of loneliness and fear of what lurked in the shadows. The light beside her flickered weakly, a reminder of its dying battery, its low light casting eerie shadows. Shivering in the cold, she shifted slightly, awakening the small...
ARTS AND CULTURE

First Place, Poetry, Grade K-2 : The Sky

Rainbow rainbow
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Poetry, Grade 3-6: Poetry is a Lie

The reason I don't like poets, is that they always lie to you In every little syllable, in every single haiku. They say that that snow is always pure white, and grass is always so green.
CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST

First Place, Poetry, Grade 7-9: The Night Sky

When the stars come sweeping in, The day is gone; the night begins. Snow whisper-falls on flying skis, Mittened hands brush ancient trees.