Announcing 2008 Literary Contest Winners

The Extraordinary Pencil
"Sponsors High School Literary Contest"

I am pleased to announce the winners of "The Second Annual High School Literary Contest". It is always fascinating to see which pieces of art are chosen by the students and learn why they were inspired by the piece. As I have said before, there are two stories to be told...the one that inspired me, the artist, and the one that inspires the viewer.

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First Place: Kelsey Dallas $50.00
Kelsey is a Senior at Lincoln Community High School and enjoys participating in soccer, tennis, and band...she is also a member of The National Honor Society, French Club, Fine Arts Club, and Scholastic Bowl. Kelsey is also active in her community as a member of the First Presbyterian Youth Group, LAMS, Community Orchestra, and the local staff of Dairy Queen. Kelsey was named the September Senior Student of the Month and was recently recognized as Scholar-Athlete of the Week by the Springfield State Journal Register. Kelsey hopes to someday be a writer after majoring in English in college.

Kelsey chose "Game, Set, Match" as the subject...because it related to her athletic life this fall. To quote Kelsey, "I was the number one player on the varsity tennis team and came just one set away from making it to state. By writing about this particular drawing I was able to heal emotionally after the heartbreaking loss. Tennis will always be beautiful to me no matter what my win/loss record is."

Second Place: Amanda Podbelsek $30.00
Amanda is a Senior at Lincoln Community High School and participates in girls tennis and softball...she is also a member of Math Club, National Honor society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and L.E.A.F. Club. After her completion of the fall tennis season, she received recognition as part of the All-Academic Conference Award. Amanda also holds the record for the most steals in a season for the high school softball program.

Amanda chose "Cracked on Black" as her subject...one of my personal favorites. To quote Amanda, "I was immediately draw to the drawing because of the different textures and the dimension created by the tones of charcoal. When I first viewed the drawing, it actually made me feel calm and peaceful. However, I delved into the state of the egg yolk emerging into a new world and immediately made the connection to a Senior emerging into the world of adulthood."

Third Place: Matthew Merreighn $20.00
Matthew is a Junior at Lincoln Community High School and is a member of the Creative Writing Club. He enjoys writing, solving puzzles, reading, TV, and video games. Matthew will be graduating high school next year and is still undecided about his plans for college.

Matthew chose "Midnight Rose" as his subject...because he likes roses. To quote Matthew, "Midnight Rose was my favorite of your drawings. People usually like roses for their color, and seeing a gray one was unusual, I found this interesting."


I want to thank all who took time to enter the contest. I enjoyed reading all your poems and descriptive essays...the quality of the entries simply gets better each year...we will definitely do this again.

Kelsey's poem, and the descriptive essays of Amanda and Matthew will be published in their entirety next month. Be sure to check back, I think you will enjoy reading them,

Congratulations To The Winners,
Marsha Robinett

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