Salisbury, Md. – The joy of coming together in celebration occurred at The Salisbury School as finalists in the Eastern Shore Literacy Association’s (ESLA) annual Young Authors’ Contest gathered for an evening filled smiles and awards. After a one-year hiatus, finalists who finished in the top three in their respective category, poetry or short story, and grade level got a chance to walk across the stage.

“It’s felt like forever since our last face-to-face event,” Brian Cook, co-chair, explained. “With COVID restrictions always changing, we were unsure whether we were going to be able to host this year’s event. We are grateful to the hospitality of The Salisbury School for all they have done to support this event through the years, but especially this year as it’s our first year back face-to-face.”

Author Claudia Friddell greeted students and shared about her challenges as a writer during her keynote.

caution with the amount of people we bring together.

The winning writings of each student will be featured in a digital anthology that will be available online in May.

Local winners included the following students:

Grade Category	Place	Name	Title	School
Grade 1 Poetry	1	Jonas Giska	Waves	Buckingham Elementary
	2	Samuel Bowman	Moon	The Salisbury School
	3	Cole Parsons	Blue	The Salisbury School
Grade 1 SS	1	Carter Justice	We Had Our Day at the Pool	Ocean City Elementary
	2	Madison Wilson	The Three Lost Kittens	The Salisbury School
	3	Rhett Geiger	The Test of the Dragon Gem	Ocean City Elementary
Grade 2 Poetry	1	Charlize Nayla Damouni	My Colorful Family Tree	Worcester Preparatory School
	2	Geoffrey Sills	Me and My Pet Crocodile	Snow Hill Elementary
	3	Rylin Moyer	The Snake	Snow Hill Elementary
Grade 2 SS	1	Neil Murarka	Last Leaf	The Salisbury School
	2	Alexander Pope	One Leaf Alone	The Salisbury School
	3	Grant Messner	Bok Bok Chicken	Worcester Preparatory School
Grade 3 Poetry	1	Serena Jaoude	Space Place	Worcester Preparatory School
	2	Ally Gray	Wanna Be a Cowgirl	North Salisbury Elementary
	3	Claire Hakeem	Deep Dark Dream	North Salisbury Elementary
Grade 3 SS	1	Rodolphe Crevecoeur	School Apocalypse	Worcester Preparatory School
	2	Will Pellinger	Ninjas	Buckingham Elementary School
	3-tie	Aubrey Womer	My Beautiful Yard	Willards Elementary School
	3-tie	Darshan Jothivel	Sweet Dreams	North Salisbury Elementary
Grade 4 Poetry	1	Aubrey Fritschle	Sea Wings	The Salisbury School
	2	Colette Campbell	Waking Up	The Salisbury School
	3	Matthew Kuna-Neto	Baseball Bat	The Salisbury School
Grade 4 SS	1	Caroline Auchey	Holiday Gift	The Salisbury School
	2	Estelle Ashby Damouni	Breathe Again	Worcester Preparatory School
	3	Anissa Demo	Lixxie’s Bad Hair Day	Ocean City Elementary
Grade 5 Poetry	1	DD Pope	The Book	The Salisbury School
	2	Isobel E. Pegg	The Circle	North Salisbury Elementary
	3	Elodie Bounds	My Sad Lost Poem	The Salisbury School
Grade 5 SS	1	Elias Baldridge	Trouble With Toothpaste	Berlin Intermediate School
	2-tie	Brynlee A. Waters	A Day With My Elf	Berlin Intermediate School
	2-tie	Ruby M. Ludwick	Mysterious Cottage on Cliff Eerie	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
	3-tie	Ellie Wells	Gotcha!	Berlin Intermediate School
	3-tie	Reid Miles	The Witness of the Main in the Red Coat	Deal Island School

Grade 6 Poetry	1	Ellie Phillips	Intricate Fall	Worcester Preparatory School
	2-tie	Skyla Miller	The Thread	Berlin Intermediate School
	2-tie	Harper Halfpap	The Watcher	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
	3-tie	Joshua Terrero	Best Trip Ever	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
	3-tie	Stefan Michev	The Rain	Berlin Intermediate School
Grade 6 SS	1	Catrina Donmoyer	Shadow	Berlin Intermediate School
	2	Aberle Bunting	Ollie the Octopus “Not weird, UNIQUE”	Berlin Intermediate School
	3-tie	Miralena Smith	Chains End	Homeschool
	3-tie	Paul Kraeuter	Mountain Adventure	Homeschool
Grade 7 Poetry	1	Libby Donoway	Will I Ever See Tomorrow	The Salisbury School
	2	Amaya Sanchez	Summer Rain	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
	3	Aaliyah McKenzie	False Guilt	Somerset Intermediate
Grade 7 SS	1	Kalen Lin	Fliehen	Pocomoke Middle
	2	Conan Geiger	Underworld in the Sky	Stephen Decatur Middle
	3-tie	Sydney Rebekah Parker	I Can Remember When Starting Middle School	Worcester Preparatory School
	3-tie	Lily Sperry	The Vast Ocean	Stephen Decatur Middle School
Grade 8 Poetry	1	Marina Farlow	Silence	Stephen Decatur Middle School
	2	Adelaide Hope Dawkins	Dancing Lights	Stephen Decatur Middle School
	3	Gracie Johnson	She Misses It	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
Grade 8 SS	1	Ayla Yonker	This Close	Worcester Preparatory School
	2	Leah Rodriguez-Garcia	The Bull	St. Francis De Sales Catholic School
	3	Bella Masone	Golden Hand	The Salisbury School

Grade 9 Poetry	1	Jackson Fernley	Blessed Behind Clouded Windows	Worcester Preparatory School
	2	Diva Shrestha	Living Purpose	James M. Bennett High
	3	Lydra Schwartz	Untitled Poem	Worcester Preparatory School
Grade 9 SS	1	Emmalyn Fetters	Online Love	Stephen Decatur High
	2	Allen Zhang	Full Circle	Worcester Preparatory School
	3	Megan Mitchell	The English Project	James M. Bennett High
Grade 10 Poetry	1	Abbi Weeks	The Cardinal	Stephen Decatur High
	2	Emily O’Brien	The Moon	The Salisbury School
	3-tie	Sloane Gould	Atlas	Snow Hill High
	3-tie	Hannah Bree Campbell	Subconscious	Stephen Decatur High
Grade 10 SS	1	Hannah Bree Campbell	The Only Earthly Thing More Powerful than Life is Death	Stephen Decatur High
	2	Abbi Weeks	Dot & Wormy	Stephen Decatur High
	3	Larissa Furniss	Too Far Gone	James M. Bennett High
Grade 11 Poetry	1	Jessica Beck	Heart of a Lion	Stephen Decatur High
	2	Kathy Zhang	I Want to Fly	Worcester Preparatory School
	3	Madelyn Grinnan	I, Too Have Anxiety	Stephen Decatur High
Grade 11 SS	1	Emily Leon	Eye Contact	The Salisbury School
	2	Kylie Raffensberger	Empty House	Stephen Decatur High
	3	Mia Stubblebine	Older Bros Protector	Stephen Decatur High
Grade 12 Poetry	1	Lindsay Birckhead-Morton	Changes in Design	Snow Hill High
	2	Katie Mitchell	Things We Remember	James M. Bennett High
	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Grade 12 SS	1	Psalm Gordube	Wrapped Around His Fingertips	Pocomoke High
	2	Ryder London Myrick	Mountain	The Salisbury School
	3	Noelgens Jeune	Unwanted Love	James M. Bennett High

**Indicates category had a tie resulting in more than three finalists.

About the Eastern Shore Literacy Association

ESLA is a non-profit organization that supports Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties with the purpose of promoting a literate society by bringing together a network of people dedicated to sharing knowledge and information about literacy through programs and services. ESLA, is an affiliate of the State of Maryland Literacy Association (SoMLA), a leading literacy organization in Maryland comprised of over 1,500 members in 17 active chapters.

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