Local Teen Writers Win State Competition

Scholarship winner; 8 of 10 Golden Nib Contest winners are Prince William teens

The Virginia Writers Club has announced winners of their annual Teen Scholarship and Teen Golden Nib Contest competitions:

2014 VWC SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Renee Christina Ordoobadi - Bristow, Virginia


2014 TEEN GOLDEN NIB CONTEST WINNERS

HIGH SCHOOL - POETRY

1st Place - "Recess" by Renee Christina Ordoobadi

2nd Place - "Identity" by Teja, Janai Barnes, Dupree

3rd Place - "Acute Regression" by Neil Adair McMillan Hailey

Honorable Mention - "Homeless" by Leah Madeline Gaush


HIGH SCHOOL - NONFICTION

1st Place - "Glimpsing the World" by Katherine Brown

2nd Place - "When Life Gives You Lemons" by Phebe Ciemny

3rd Place - "Pilot" by Leah Madeline Gaush

Honorable Mention - "The Face of Depravity" by Renee C. Brittigan

 
HIGH SCHOOL - FICTION

1st Place - "Imperfect" by Erin Marguerite McCall

2nd Place - "Puppetmaster" by Kayleigh McCoy

3rd Place - "A Heavy Conscience" by Katherine Brown

Honorable Mention - "Awaiting the Fury" by Morgan Nicole Shaffer

Eight of the 10 teen winners live in Prince William, attend Woodbridge Senior High School and are enrolled in the CFPA Creative Writing Program.

Scholarship winner Renee Christina Ordoobadi recently graduated from Woodbridge Senior High School, and was enrolled in the CFPA Creative Writing Program. In March, she taught poetry at the Write by the Rails’ Rising Writers Workshop in Manassas. In June, she was one of 14 poets nominated for the Prince William Poet Laureate and became part of the Prince William Poet Laureate Circle at Tackett’s Mill. She is a contributing writer to BristowBeat.com and lives in Bristow, Virginia.

Phebe Ciemny, who recently graduated WSHS, and Neil Adair McMillan Hailey, a junior, were also among the 14 poets nominated for the Prince William Poet Laureate and in June became part of the Prince William Poet Laureate Circle at Tackett’s Mill. Ciemny taught poetry at the Write by the Rails’ Rising Writers Workshop in Manassas in March, along with Erin Marguerite McCall, who also recently graduated WSHS. McCall taught writing and the arts at the Write by the Rails’ Rising Writers Workshop. Teja, Janai Barnes, Dupree is a WSHS junior, and writes for the Valkyrie newspaper; Renee C. Brittigan is also a junior; Katherine Brown is a sophomore, whose winning piece, “Glimpsing the World,” was published in Eddas 2014 Bifrost. She attended the Write by the Rails’ Rising Writers Workshop in Manassas in March. Leah Madeline Gaush is a freshman at WSHS. Brittigan, Brown, Ciemny, Hailey, McCall and Ordoobadi all have additional writing published in Eddas 2014 Bifrost.

“I’m so proud of all of them,” said Woodbridge Senior High School creative writing teacher Cathy Hailey, who was herself featured in the March issue of Prince William Living magazine as one of the five Influential Women of 2014.