Southern Lit Alliance’s Young Southern Student Writers contest announces its winners. While there were 300 winners from local area schools, two outstanding entries by Carolyn Henley and Leila Babb from Silverdale Baptist Academy have won the overall Verbie and Hugh Prevost awards for their poems. Carolyn and Leila are in 11th and 10th grade, respectively.
A video will later be shared of some of this year’s winners reading their entries, and medals will be sent to each school of the 300 winners. Carolyn and Leila will each win a $250 cash prize for their achievement.
The Young Southern Student Writers literary outreach program was established in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. It rewards, challenges and nurtures Hamilton County public, private and home school students’ writing and reading skills. The program also supports teachers and parents by encouraging their students/children with the fascination of reading and the importance of writing. Working with their language arts and creative writing teachers, students submit original works in either prose (fiction/nonfiction) or poetry. The student’s entries are evaluated on creativity, content and style.