The La Jolla High School Creative Writing Club hosted its annual writing competition on Friday, April 25, during lunch. Organized by club officers Zac Schmidt, Kyra Sharma, Max Davis, and Nathan Lam, the event was a success, drawing strong participation from students across campus. Students from all grade levels were welcome to join at any writing level. They could choose any writing style and topic to submit. There were 15 submissions this year. A jury made up of these officers as well as additional LJHS students reviewed the final pieces, which resulted in one winner. The writing competition was a great way for students to express themselves as writers and allowed them to write freely without rubrics and standards.
The first-place overall winner was senior Sarah Lehman for her poem “border fire”. Sarah said, “I’m surprised, I won because I entered my English poem assignment in the competition. My poem was about the fires early this year, about the border fire.” The second-place award went to senior Inji Hamdoun for her narrative essay “The Color Purple”. She said, “I’m happy that I received 2nd place. I wrote a personal narrative, and it was previously an assignment for English. Shout out to the Creative Writing Club because it’s one of the most productive clubs.” Freshman Ella Milton won third-place winner for her short story “Does She?”.
There was an additional prize, headed by LJHS Environmental Action Club president Emma Weibel, awarded to a written piece that addressed the current climate crisis. This prize was awarded to Marina Garcia for her piece “Evergreen”. This competition will continue annually at La Jolla High School.