Seventeen Tunstall students placed in the Young Writers contest and are moving on to the county level. Entries included short fiction and poetry and were received from the English and creative writing classes.

In the tenth grade, Kai Rigney placed first, Gia Bucchi placed second, and Ava Wood placed third in the poetry category.

“When I was little I started writing poetry as an escape from the world,” said Rigney.

“It [poetry] just comes to me naturally in a rush of ideas and I entered because it was an assignment for creative writing. Plus, it was fun,” said Bucchi.

For poetry in the junior class, Mara Waite placed first, Alyssa Standen placed second, and Sarah Goard placed third.

In twelfth grade, Hannah Shambley placed first, Tiffany Bowker placed second, Liz Pienda placed third, and Andrew Matherly placed fourth for poetry.

“I started writing poetry after middle school and in creative writing,” said Shambley.

For the short fiction category, the winners were juniors Anna Brooks, Raigan Shakleford, Tashaan Logan, and seniors Tiffany Bowker, Chris Luther, Kara Karnes, and Elizabeth Dickens.

Many of these students entered as an assignment in the creative writing class taught by Mrs. Mariah Blankenship.

“I am very proud of my creative writing students that they were featured by the Young Writers competition,” said Blankenship.

All of the school-level winners will advance to the county level competition. Winners at this level will advance to the regional level judging.