Young People's Creative Writing Contest

2025 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Winners

Below are this year's winners - congratulations! Click on each entry title to read the winning entry.

Poetry

10-12

1st Place: Naomi Fair, "Sunrise"

2nd Place: Grey Garringer, "The Youngest"

3rd Place: Willow Anno, "The Whispers of the Wind"

13-15

1st Place: Kaylyn Potter, "Fields of Fire"

2nd Place: Mekyla Atkins, "Take It Back"

3rd Place: Samuel Logsdon, "Unpoetically Noted"

16-18

1st Place: Kaytlyn Slatton, "She"

2nd Place: Angelina Valdez, "ImMigration"

3rd Place: Victoria Gogol, "Rose-Colored Glasses"

Short Story

10-12

1st Place: Emma Salon, "The Magic Fortune Cookies"

2nd Place: Zaylee Prickett, "The Midnight Heist"

3rd Place: Tanisha Azeez, "The Bloody Pool"

13-15

1st Place: Spencer Treanor, "Stuck"

2nd Place: Payge Henderson, "The Cerulean King"

3rd Place: McKenna Johnson, "Salt Water"

16-18

1st Place: Violet Voelker, "Galatea"

2nd Place: Mason Sand, "Objects of Purpose"

3rd Place: Mang Lun, "Junella Jennings Talks A Lot"

Informal Essay

10-12

1st Place: Holton Moseby, "The Kid Who Ruined Thanksgiving"

2nd Place: George Rubey, "The Baseball Game in Maine"

3rd Place: Aadhya Duggirala, "How I’d Spend A Million Dollars"

13-15

1st Place: Neveah Salaz, "Who I Am"

2nd Place: Annabel Bynum, "Dear Robert"

3rd Place: Abigail Woodward, "I Believe in Magic"

16-18

1st Place: Mang Lun, "Narwhals Are Born Blind at Birth"

2nd Place: Nathan Stroup, "Transferring to New Heights"

3rd Place: Victoria Gogol, "The Obsessed Artist"

Short Play

10-12

Not enough entries to judge age group

13-15

Not enough entries to judge age group

16-18

1st Place: Judah Brown, "Holding on to Hope"

2nd Place: Jo Shaw, "The Peculiar Ways We Go About Coping"

3rd Place: Olivia Ragan, "An Egg-ventful Breakfast"

Comix

10-12

1st Place: Adam Abouhouli, "Detective Hamsdoodle in the Missing Oobster"

2nd Place: Maryam Ahmad, "Finding the Right Color"

3rd Place: Sabrina Galarza, "Peacekeepers"

13-15

1st Place: Cadence Xiong, "Dead Man Walking"

2nd Place: Annabel Bynum, "Heavy is the Crown"

3rd Place: Yeriel Ko, "Alter Ego"

16-18

1st Place: Violet Voelker, "Love in the Fifties"

2nd Place: Eowyn Garringer, "Video Message"

3rd Place: Aveah Riner, "The Little Things in Life"

Writer to Watch Award

The Writer to Watch Award is given to a current winner who has won the most times previously and is aging out of the contest. This year's Writer to Watch will be announced at the ceremony on May 2, 2025.

Educators and others who want to promote the contest may request promotional materials from their local library, or can use these files:

2025 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Entry Form (to attach to print entries)

2025 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Poster

2025 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Social Media Graphics, Size 1; size 2 

NEW: Comix Promo Poster and Social Media graphics Size 1 and Size 2 linked here

Remember, writers may enter the contest online here, starting February 1, 2025.

You may enter the contest if you are: 

• Between the ages of 10 and 18 by the last day of the contest, and
• Live in Tulsa County
  • Or attend school in Tulsa County
  • Or have a non-expired Tulsa City-County Library nonresident library card.

There are three age divisions - 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18. There are five categories for entries: Poetry, Short Story, Informal Essay, Short Play, and Comix. You may enter ONLY one manuscript per category, but you may enter all categories within your age division.

• Poetry - One poem, no more than 300 words
• Short Story - Each entry no more than 1,500 words
• Informal Essay - A short composition on a topic or issue giving your opinion or recounting a personal experience. Limited to 1,500 words.
• Short Play - No more than six characters, no more than three locations, no more than 10 pages. Limited to five to 10 minutes in length.
• Comix - Entry must be complete in and of itself, and not a fragment of a larger work. No more than eight pages. Work can be with or without words, in black and white or color, and fiction or nonfiction. Digital images are acceptable as long as they are original works (no clip art or AI art). Use 8 1/2" by 11" (standard) paper and submit as a flat work, not as a booklet.

Make sure your entry adheres to the following rules. Manuscripts that are illegible, single-spaced, or that otherwise don't meet the following requirements will not be judged.

• Do not put your name anywhere on your manuscript. That information should only be on the entry form.
• Double-space and TYPE or PRINT LEGIBLY in blue or black ink on 8 1/2" by 11" (standard) paper. Do not use lined notebook paper.
• Include the title and page number in the upper right-hand corner of every page, including the first page.
• A completed and signed entry form MUST accompany each individual entry, even for the same contestant entering multiple categories.

Before you submit your entry:

• Double-check that you have adhered to all the instructions regarding entries.
• If submitting by mail or at your library, staple your manuscript and completed entry form together.
• Don't be late! The deadline for entries in the 2025 contest is February 28, 2025.

Eligible entrants can enter their work in the contest by submitting entries:

• In person at any library location, with a separate entry form for each entry
• Online, by uploading their entry as a PDF file at this webpage
• By mail, with a separate entry form for each entry (though all entries with their forms may be mailed in one envelope):

Young People's Creative Writing Contest
c/o Youth Services Department
Tulsa City-County Library
400 Civic Center
Tulsa, OK 74103-3857

Do not send your only copy of your entry. Keep a copy for yourself. Manuscripts will not be returned.

All entries are judged on the basis of content, originality, and quality of expression. Judges' decisions are final. Judges do not critique entries. All entries are anonymous when given to judges.

Winners will be notified by email or phone each year in April, prior to the award ceremony.

If you are a teacher submitting students' works, make sure that you have the current year's entry form and that each student completes and signs an entry form for each of their entries. Entries with incomplete forms are not judged. Please determine that your students' manuscripts comply with all contest rules before submitting.

Cash prizes are awarded as follows: $100 for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place. Winners will be notified by phone and in a separate mailing from the awards program invitation.

All entrants will receive an invitation to the awards program, which will be held on the first Friday in May. The current winner of the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young People's Literature will be the featured speaker and will congratulate the award recipients.

Entrants, winners, and their families are invited to attend the awards program.

No, for this contest, each entry must have only one author.

2024 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Winners

Below are this year's winners - congratulations! Click on each entry title to read the winning entry.

Poetry

10-12

1st Place: Daphne Giles, "Who Am I"

2nd Place: Carissa Fair, "The Enchanted Land"

3rd Place: Sinclair Reece, "I am Small but Mighty"

13-15

1st Place: Sophie Milien, "The Mouse in the Wall"

2nd Place: Easton Friesen, "Climbing a Rainforest Tree"

3rd Place: Judah Brown, "Myths"

16-18

1st Place: Yara Omar, "Embracing Existence"

2nd Place: Siena Lamb, "A Star"

3rd Place: Mang Lun, "An Untitled Document"

Short Story

10-12

1st Place: Emma Salon, "The Explorer"

2nd Place: Zach Costa, "The Junkyard"

3rd Place: Lucas Doverspike, "The Room on the Roof"

13-15

1st Place: Josephine Arrington, "Outcast"

2nd Place: Easton Friesen, "The Greatest Kill"

3rd Place: Nora Fyler, "A Friend in the Woods"

16-18

1st Place: Eden Simpson, "Rocket Woman"

2nd Place: Elaine Gao, "The Fortune-Telling Book"

3rd Place: Monica Bader, "How to Accidentally Start a Custody Battle: A Guide"

Informal Essay

10-12

1st Place: Jenna Plum, "PUPeranians"

2nd Place: Jackson Pendergrass, "Today's Great Disaster: Is Social Media Ruining the Future for Teens?"

3rd Place: Camila Espina, "Fear and How to Strategize Against It"

13-15

1st Place: Annabel Bynum, "Germophobia"

2nd Place: Violet Voelker, "Why Deforestation Matters"

3rd Place: Victoria Gogol, "Kindness Within: The Power of Self-Compassion"

16-18

1st Place: Callie Schurr, "All I Am Leaving Behind"

2nd Place: Elaine Gao, "Reflections Under a Starry Night"

3rd Place: Lillian Charles, "Calming Your Death Anxiety in 1,374 Words"

Short Play

10-12

1st Place: Madelynn Metcalf, "Zed is Not Dead"

2nd Place: Yeriel Ko, "Audacious Sally"

3rd Place: Amani Burt, "The Mystery of the Half-Eaten Burger!"

13-15

1st Place: Jo Shaw, "I Just Want the War to Stop"

2nd Place: Talha Asif, "Twilight of the Empire: The Last Sycamore"

3rd Place: Judah Brown, "Latte Lovers"

16-18

1st Place: Annabelle Nash, "A Secret or Anything"

2nd Place: Mallory Pandian, "Evil Witch"

3rd Place: Layla Klaus, "The Truth of Red"

Comix

10-12

1st Place: William Nievar, "Beige Man"

2nd Place: Yeriel Ko, "You Earthlings: From Proxima Centauri"

3rd Place: Audrey Petersen, "The Chicken's Choice"

13-15

1st Place: Ash Garringer, "Dreamer"

2nd Place: Charlie Rossi, "The Thing in the Box (An Addiction Metaphor)"

3rd Place: Gizell Murillo, "The Space Princess"

16-18

1st Place: Gracie Earley, "Peaches"

2nd Place: Cassie Kennedy, "Chocolate Chip"

3rd Place: Osvaldo Carrillo, "Welcome to Chaos"

Writer to Watch Award

The Writer to Watch Award is given to a current winner who has won the most times previously and is aging out of the contest. This year's Writer to Watch will be announced at the ceremony on May 3, 2024.