East Aurora Advertiser

Local Students Honored in Writing CompetitionFree Access


Students from seven local schools were recognized for their writing skills by the Aurora Women’s Club, the local sponsor of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs’ creative writing contest.

Conlee Brewer, from Parkdale School, won first place in Category 1 ( K,1,2 grades) for the short story category in the Greater Western District. As a first-place winner, his entry was sent on to the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs for state judging. 

In the East Aurora Middle School, first-place district winners were Erin Stevens, Cora Flesher, and Keira VanDerBeck.  Their entries were sent on for state judging, where Erin won first place in Category 2 (Grades 3, 4 and 5) Poetry and Keira won first place in Category 3 (Grades 6, 7, 8)  Poetry. As state winners, their entries were sent on for national judging to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs headquarters in Washington, D.C. Other district winners in Category 2 were Mary Matott with second place, Ariana Ward third place, Basia Chmielowiec with an Honorable Mention, all in Poetry, and Grace Canaski with second place in Short Story. Keira VanDerBeck also won second in Category 3 for Short Story.

In the East Aurora High School, Colin Jones won second place in Category 4 in Poetry and Mary Hayes won Honorable Mention for Short Story, also in Category 4. Mary Kalinski took first in Category 4 Poetry and Ryan Zaff won first place in Category 4 in the Short Story Division. Both first-place entries were sent on for state judging, where Mary Kalinski went on to win third place in New York State in Category 4 Poetry and Ryan Zaff won first place in Category 4 Short Story. Ryan’s first-place entry has been sent on for national judging.

In Immaculate Conception School in East Aurora, Sophie Beitz and Timothy Cich won district awards. Sophie won third place in Category 3 Short Story and Timothy won Honorable Mention in Category 3 Poetry.

Other local winners were Lydia Calderone from Iroquois Middle School, who won third place in Category 3 Poetry; Marin Schaub from Iroquois High School, who placed third in Category 4 Short Story, and Cait Murphy from Aurora Waldorf School, who took first place in Category 3 Short Story. Cait’s entry was also sent on for state judging. 

Each year, one entry is selected to win the Wanda Odrobina Award for Excellence in Creative Writing. The winner of this year’s award is Ryan Zaff. 

The Creative Writing Contest is an annual event. Guidelines for the 2022 contest will be available in September at local schools and the East Aurora Library.

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