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Local students excel in creative writing contest

Submitted photo Pictured are the first-place winners at the 2018 Creative Writing Contest, which is made possible through a partnership between the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative and the Southwest Minnesota State University creative writing department.

MARSHALL — Seven area students were among the top finishers in the 2018 Creative Writing Contest, which is made possible through a partnership between Southwest West Central Service Cooperative and the Southwest Minnesota State University creative writing department.

In its 14th year, the program was created to encourage the love of language and writing for all students as a way to recognize talented young writers within the 18 counties of southwest and west central Minnesota. The contest is open to students in grades 3-12.

“We had a respectable amount of students enter the Creative Writing Contest this year,” said Andrea Anderson, student activities coordinator at Southwest West Central. “Eleven school districts participated along with many individual families. There were 113 students in grades 3-12, who entered 180 written entries.”

On Sunday, the top three winners in each of the three categories — poetry, fiction and nonfiction –were announced and recognized at an awards ceremony held at SMSU. Young adult author Geoff Herbach served as this year’s guest speaker.

“It was the perfect, sunshiny day to travel to this banquet,” Anderson said. “About 230 family members and teachers attended the ceremony to support their winning student. Geoff Herbach was fun to listen to and had the whole audience laughing. He is an absolute delight to work with and is very personable and down to earth.”

SWWC board member Maydra Maas announced the winning names.

“The students were beaming as they came up to receive their award,” Anderson said.

Area students did especially well in the poetry category. Marshall student Jaden Dobrenski took first place in the grades 7-8 group, while Savannah Dobrenski won the grades 9-10 group. Cora Engels of Ivanhoe earned top honors for grades 11-12.

“My poem was about when my sister and I played a piano duet and how we had to listen to each other and work together,” Engels said. “If we all applied the skills of listening to people and then being willing to make sacrifices for a common goal, it would make the world a lot better. It was pretty fun to write.”

In the fiction category, Lynd student Cody Rauch was first place in the grades 3-4 contest. Nola Lane of Lynd took third place in the same age group.

“My story was about some pheasants,” Rauch said. “They were trying to get food, but a dog chased them away. (Eventually), they got to get their food. They made a plan and ran for the pig pen. The dog couldn’t stop, so he got stuck in the pig pen.”

While he’s only 9 years old, Rauch has already learned how exciting writing can be.

“I like using my imagination,” he said. “I was happy (when I found out I won). I’m going to keep writing.”

In nonfiction, Abigail Carr of Tyler finished second in the grades 5-6 competition, while Slayton’s Ranissa Beerman took third place.

Every year, entries are screened multiples times by SMSU creative writing students who score the entries according to a rubric. The entries with the highest scores are submitted to faculty in the SMSU creative writing program who serve as the final judges. Susan McLean (poetry), Judy Wilson (fiction) and Marianne Zarzana (nonfiction) were this year’s judges.

James Zarzana gave the welcome at the ceremony. Herbach handed out the medals, while Lisa Gregoire, SWWC’s director of teaching and learning, handed out the anthologies.

“This event is so rewarding to me — just to see students being recognized for excellent writing skills and the hard work they put into creating their stories,” Anderson said.

The anthologies include the published version of entries from the top three finishers in each category and at every age level.

“It’s so cool,” Rauch said.

First-place winners in all categories were also awarded $20 gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. First-place finishers in the grades 11-12 also received a $2,000 scholarship to SMSU.

“It was a lot on the line with the scholarship being awarded,” said Engels, a senior at Minneota High School. “It was very exciting (to win the scholarship). I’m definitely glad I entered the contest.”

Engels said she is planning to attend SMSU, but she’s not necessarily pursuing writing as a career.

“It’s more like a hobby,” she said.

Creative Writing Contest 2018

1st Place — Poetry

Grade Name Residence

3-4 Isabelle Shorter, Hutchinson

5-6 Brenna Wordes, Renville

7-8 Jaden Dobrenski, Marshall

9-10 Savannah Dobrenski, Marshall

11-12 Cora Engels, Ivanhoe

2nd Place — Poetry

3-4 Cassandra Slusher, Worthington

5-6 Myah Johnson, Willmar

7-8 none

9-10 Zoey Smith, St. James

11-12 Taylor Wolthuizen,Edgerton

3rd Place — Poetry

3-4 Cooper Larson, Hutchinson

5-6 Kiera Lafferty, Comfrey

7-8 none

9-10 Journie Carter, Jeffers

11-12 Taylor Wolthuizen, Edgerton

1st Place — Fiction

3-4 Cody Rauch, Lynd

5-6 Mazzi Moore, Hills

7-8 Liv Hanson, Litchfield

9-10 Jessica Novotny, Buffalo Lake

11-12 Gabrielle Houle, Redwood Falls

2nd Place — Fiction

3-4 Eden Pulkerabek Hutchinson

5-6 Sam Petersen Mountain Lake

7-8 Kate Janzen Mountain Lake

9-10 Summer Janzen Mountain Lake

11-12 Paige Riihl Mountain Lake

3rd Place — Fiction

3-4 Nola Lane, Lynd

5-6 Taylor Post, Woodstock

7-8 McKayla Kruger, Litchfield

9-10 Emily Schroeder, Mountain Lake

11-12 Rachel Sajban, Windom

1st Place — Nonfiction

3-4 not offered

5-6 Lauren Stoel, Chandler

7-8 none

9-10 Aunna Groenewold, Rushmore

11-12 Rachel Sajban, Windom

2nd Place — Nonfiction

3-4 not offered

5-6 Abigail Carr, Tyler

7-8 none

9-10 Mariah Hennings, Worthington

11-12 Cheyanne Courts, Windom

3rd Place — Nonfiction

3-4 not offered

5-6 Ranissa Beerman, Slayton

7-8 none

9-10 Abigail Bannor, Worthington

11-12 Emily Samdal, Windom

1st Place 11-12 Grade — $2,000 Scholarship

Poetry: Cora Engels, Ivanhoe

Fiction: Gabrielle Houle, Redwood Falls

Nonfiction: Rachel Sajban, Windom

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