Two Barrie students wrote their names in the history books by co-winning a national writing prize.
Elijah Wachowiak, a Grade 7 student from St. Monica’s Catholic School, and Lucy Szerminski, a Grade 7 student from Codrington Public School, are both celebrating after winning the Canada-wide writing competition and earning a donation to the charity of their choice.
The duo won the Kids Write 4 Kids creative challenge sponsored by the RIPPLE Foundation which encourages students from grades 4 to 8 throughout Canada to submit their creative writing for a chance to have their work published as an e-book on Amazon, Apple iBookstore, Google Play and Overdrive.
The 13-year-old Wachowiak told BarrieToday he was happy to win and said he believes it will help further his love of writing.
“This is very exciting and very unexpected,” said Wachowiak. “I’ve always loved to write, but this makes me want to do it even more.”
All submissions were required to be no more than 7,500 words and were reviewed and scored by a judging panel composed of past winners, authors and self-proclaimed bookworms.
Points were awarded for creativity, story structure and style and tone.
Wachowiak submitted his novella, The Third Floor, which ended up tied for first place among all entries in Canada with Szerminski, who wrote, The Shores of Miami.
Both stories will be published digitally and in print and made available for purchase at Amazon, Apple iBookstore and Google Play later this month.
Net proceeds sold in 2019 will be donated to the two local students' charity of choice.
“I’m giving to the WE Charity, which is involved with social justice,” said Wachowiak. “Then I am going to get writing again soon, but I am taking some time to sort my ideas.
"I really like to read and so I will be doing a lot more of that until my next story."
Click here to read Szerminki's winning entry.
Click here to read Wachowiak's winning entry.
