8th Tri-Valley Writers annual high school writing contest

“My Story, My Vision”

Students from Tri-Valley high schools were recently honored for their essays, poetry and short stories that won awards in a contest sponsored by the Tri-Valley Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. The students were recognized at a Sunday ceremony in the Livermore Library on May 19, 2019.

Keynote Speaker: Vidhima Shetty

The keynote speaker was California High School senior and TVW member, Vidhima Shetty. She has recently written and published a nonfiction book, An Adolescent’s Guide to ME/CFS: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

“It takes great courage for students to submit writing to strangers to evaluate and comment on it,” Tri-Valley Writers newsletter editor Patricia Boyle said. “I’m proud of the students who entered the contest and took the risk of sharing their work.”

Award Winners by Category

Essay

First place: Lipi Buch for “A Eulogy for Insecurity” (Dublin)

First place: Katherine Mudge for “I’m Uncomfortable” (Amador)

Third Place: Jacob Zhou for “Stars” (Dublin)

Honorable Mentions:

Neha Prasad for “The Force” (California)

Anika Nicolas for “National Parks are Worth Preserving” (Amador)

Shangxi Wu for “How I Built Up Confidence to Speak in Public” (Amador)

Poetry

First Place: Anna Chuang for “To Be Thin” (Amador)

Second Place: Claire McNerney for “phased” (Foothill)

Third Place: Connor Diaz for “Aggravated” (Dublin)

Honorable Mentions:

Melanie Kim for “The Great Beasts” (Monte Vista)

Gita Supramaniam for “Wherefore Art Thou Unpredictable” (Dougherty Valley)

Short Story Fiction

First Place: Arushi Avachat for “California” (Foothill)

Second Place: Anjali Zyla for “Imagining Us” (Monte Vista)

Third Place: Anna Niu for “the inevitable passage of time” (Dougherty Valley)

Honorable Mentions:

Eva Shen for “Lost Translation” (Dougherty Valley)

Nisreen Hitti for “Tomorrow” (Granada)

Nirajara Dungwatanawanich for “Fear” (Livermore)

Jennifer Huang for “Words I Didn’t Say” (Dougherty Valley)

Photo Gallery

Marilyn Dykstra—TVW VP	Patricia Boyle—TVW Newsletter
Audience
Essay Winners
Poetry Winners
Short Story Fiction Winners
2019 HSWC Winners
Networking and Snacking	Networking