The Southern Lit Alliance announces its winners and runners-up for the 2017 Young Southern Student Writers Contest. The awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday, at the Tivoli Theater and is sponsored by HHM Certified Public Accountants. This year there were around 4600 submissions, 500 of which will be recognized for their creative and excellent literary merit. Additionally, four students from the 10th and 11th grade will receive individual Verbie and Hugh Prevost awards for outstanding prose and poetry.
The Verbie and Hugh Prevost award winner for Outstanding Poetry was 11th grader Maggie Thal from Signal Mountain High School, and the runner-up was 11th grader Zoe Leslie from Silverdale Baptist Academy. The Verbie and Hugh Prevost winner for Outstanding Prose was was 10th grader Emma Blainey from Silverdale Baptist Academy, and the runner-up was 11th grader Molly Sims from Signal Mountain High School. These winners will be awarded with medals and online publication.
All entries were judged, based upon their creativity, content, and style, by staff and graduate students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The event will start at 6 p.m. and feature special spoken performances of the four Prevost award winning works. Spoken word artist Christian Collier will perform the poetry winners' pieces, and spoken word artist Kim Jackson will perform the prose winners' pieces.
The Young Southern Students Writers Literary Outreach program began in 1999 with participation from 450 students and is proud to have grown to 4600 in 2017. The program continues to celebrate the writing of diverse public school students and cultivate engaging literary arts experiences for the community.
Southern Lit Alliance is a longstanding literary arts organization in Chattanooga, founded in 1952. The organization engages audiences through innovative literary arts experiences and educational enrichment in local schools and underserved communities in Chattanooga. For more information about Southern Lit Alliance and the Young Southern Student Writers contest, visit www.southernlitalliance.org or call 423-267-1218. Southern Lit Alliance is funded by grants from ArtsBuild and the Tennessee Arts Commission.