Young writers and poets were recognized in the Young Southern Student Writers contest organized by SoLit and the UTC English department.
The Young Southern Student Writers (YSSW) contest was started in 1999, and this year, there were more than 2,400 entries by students in public and private schools and home schools in Hamilton County. Faculty in the UTC English department read each entry and award winners from each school and grade in prose and poetry in grades K-12. All Bright School third, fourth and fifth graders submit entries. There are 16 Bright student winners, and two students won in both prose and poetry.
Fifth grade winners: Aggie Howard (prose), Blas Ortega MacLean (prose), Mamie Treadwell (poetry and prose), Zoan von Schultz (poetry) and Harlan Soss (poetry)
Fourth grade winners: Stella Reyes (poetry), Olivia Mahaffey (poetry), Truman Jonson (poetry), Lily Crowder (prose), Henry Shepperd (prose) and Rett Wolfford (prose).
Third grade winners: Arya Clinebell (prose), Lucy Cunningham (prose and poetry), Sydney Henderson (poetry), Mary Frances Smith (poetry) and Andrew Craig (prose)
Also, Bright School had several alumni win awards.
6th grade: Alba Ortega MacLean, Lila Montgomery, Pei-Ying Olsen and Lauren Reisman (all Baylor)
7th grade: Meg Finger (Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts)
8th grade: Ashley Yim (Baylor)
An awards ceremony was held on Tuesday, April 25, at Abba's House in Hixson.
