Click here to view all entries in the Peer Work database from the 15th Annual Creative Writing Contest.

Grand Prize Winner

"Waiting" by Wendy Erd (Winner, Open Poetry) with Profile of Wendy Erd by Doug O'Harra

Editor's Choice

"Kudzu" (Excerpts) by Graham Dunstan (Winner, College Fiction)

Adult

Fiction

Winner: Maria Finn,Homer, "Standard Deductions"

Honorable Mention: Vernita Herdman, Anchorage, "There is a Season"; Brian Hutton, Anchorage, "Constance"; Mark Muro, Anchorage, "Seven Angels and What They Told Me"; Suzanne Hancock, Kodiak, "Swans"; Gloria Ager, Sterling, "The Best Solution"

Poetry

Winner: Wendy Erd, Homer, "Waiting"

Honorable Mention: Timothy Johnson, Anchorage, "Cut-Up Constant"; Sharon Ann Jaeger, Anchorage, "Marsh Creek"; Nancy Barnes, Anchorage,"The Fisherman"; Dan Branch, Juneau, "Spring Homesickness Poem #2"; Mary Bailey, Soldotna, "Ode to Chicken Guts"

Nonfiction

Winner: Bettina Derrick, Anchorage, "Anchorage -- February"

Honorable Mention: Maria Finn, Homer, "Sandhill Cranes and Desire"; Michael White, Anchorage, "The Deacon Art"; Jody Stahl, Anchorage, "The Red Rocking Chair"; Dennis Stovall, Anchorage, "Evan's Secret Story"

College

Fiction

Winner: Graham Dunstan, UAA, Anchorage,"Kudzu"

Honorable Mention: Kristen Seine, UAA, Palmer, "Park Music"; Stacy Lynn Smith, UAA, Anchorage, "Heavy Metal" Becky Davis, UAA, Anchorage, "Buried Things"; Anzel Vizcaya, UAF, Fairbanks, "The Alive Dummy"

Poetry

Winner: Marylin Borell, UAA, Anchorage, "After the Zamboni"

Honorable Mention: Misty Brubaker, UAA, Anchorage, "I Was Trying to Describe My Grandmother to Someone Else!"; Michael White, UAA, Anchorage, "Ironton 1969"; Dawn Gillette, UAA, Anchorage, "Raven"; Mona Borst, UAA, Anchorage, "Autumn Leaves"; Melissa Holbrook, UAA, Anchorage, "Sonnet of the Self-Deceptor"; Laura Eide, University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, Anchorage, "Carpetscape"

Nonfiction

Winner: Michelle Morris, UAA, Anchorage, "Personal Experience"

Honorable Mention: Suzanne Robert, UAA, Elmendorf Air Force Base, "Transfer of Energy"; George Nagel, UAS, Juneau, "This Emperor Wore No Clothes to the Christmas Party"; Jennifer Bench, UAA, Anchorage, "Watching the Secretary"

High School 10-12

Fiction

Winner: Jessica LeGrue, Kodiak High School, Kodiak, "Strobe Lights"

Honorable Mention: Lynda Weaver, Pelican High School, "The Predator Always Wins"; Henry Haney, Nikiski Junior-Senior High School, Nikiski, "Unwanted"

Poetry

Winner: Katie Mannheimer, Steller Alternative School, Anchorage, "The Olive Grove"

Honorable Mention: Katie Mannheimer, Steller Alternative School, Anchorage, "The Boat"; Mary Lochner, Chugiak High School, "Unvirgin"

Nonfiction

Winner: Troy Amos McFarlin, Service High School, Anchorage, "The Life of a Playah"

Honorable Mention: Heike Hoffer, East High School-Within-A-School, Anchorage, "untitled"; Andy Burcham, East High School-Within-A-School, "Jerry Is Dead"; Christine Brandon, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Ekwok, "The Bottle That Rocks The Teens"; Macrina Andrew, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Dillingham, "The Way It Was"; Sandra Varga, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Sand Point, "Hungarian Librarian"

Junior High 7-9

Fiction

Winner: Nick Jurewicz,Gruening Middle School, Eagle River, "Lightning Maker"

Honorable Mention: Elliott Peterson, Mears Junior High, Anchorage, "Eric's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"; Seth Stewart, Pelican High School, Pelican, "Elexes' First Adventure"; Victor Blecha, Alcan Border School, Border, "A Captain's Requiem"

Poetry

Winner: Kirsten Merrell, Polaris K-12, Anchorage, "Impressions of the Museum"

Honorable Mention: Tyler Wellman, Kenny Lake High School, Copper Center, "Oh, Really?"; Sam Lloyd, Alyeska Correspondence School, Eagle River, "Here At The Top"; Ellie Swanson, Atheneum Middle School, Anchorage, "Why?"

Nonfiction

Winner: Mekesha Henderson, Clark Middle School, Anchorage, "If You Can't Trust Your Family, Who Can You Trust?"

Honorable Mention: Ann Froeschle, East High School, Anchorage, "What's Black and White, and Red in the Face?"; Isaac Haslett, Clark Middle School, Anchorage, "My Life"; Jennifer Johnson, East High School, Anchorage, "My Life the Way It Is"; Katy Chandler, Service High School, Anchorage, "Why"; Cynthia Anne Crice, West High School, Anchorage, "The Blanket"; Sioux Blackledge, Mears Junior High School, Anchorage, "Grandpa"; Asher Marshall, Clark Middle School, Anchorage, "A Bad Boy's News"

Elementary 4-6

Fiction

Winner: Susanna Serino, home school, Point Hope, "The Moonlight Horse"

Honorable Mentions: Katie Ronsse, Polaris K-12, Anchorage, "The Otter Boy"; Zac Liszka, Bear Valley Elementary, Anchorage, "Knife"; Katie Quenneville, Alpenglow Elementary, Eagle River, "The Colors of Chanting Mountain"; Dana Shackelton, Alpenglow Elementary, Eagle River, "How the Wolf Got His Golden Eyes"; Susannah Howard, Talkeetna Elementary, Talkeetna, "The Voyage of Captain Hawthorne"

Poetry

Winner: Abigail Raven, O'Malley Elementary, Anchorage, "Primary Colors"

Honorable Mention: Casey Nathanson, Alpenglow Elementary, Eagle River, "Disagreement"; Abigail Raven, O'Malley Elementary, Anchorage, "Spring"; Andrea Wilson, Rabbit Creek Elementary, Anchorage, "At Last"

Nonfiction

Winner: Ellen Bauer, McNiel Canyon Elementary, Homer, "Someplace Special"

Honorable Mention: Michael Wilkinson, Polaris K-12, Anchorage, "The Life of a Confederate Soldier"; Berndt Gullickson, Denali Elementary, Anchorage, "The Big Emergency"; Sheena Wooten, Gladys Wood, Anchorage, "untitled"; Halie Smith, Blatchley Middle School, Sitka, "Anne Frank"; Benjamin Pool, Blatchley Middle School, Sitka, "John Fitzgerald Kennedy"; Amanda Woods, Polaris K-12, "For Help And Love"

Fiction

Winner: Kelly Sawyer, Tanaina Elementary, Wasilla, "My Incredible Journey"

Honorable Mention: Collin Agni, Polaris K-12, "The Magic Stick and Thorn, or How Porcupines Got Their Quills"; Kelcie Ralph, Lake Otis Elementary, Anchorage, "A Very Brave Girl"; Matti Cupre, correspondence, Willow, "untitled"

Poetry

Winner: Susannah Ross, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School, Anchorage, "The Rainbow"

Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Conklin, Williwaw Elementary, Anchorage, "Wise Old Owl"; Sabrina Smith, Rogers Park Elementary, Anchorage, "Sea Otter"; Heather Larson, Cottonwood Creek Elementary, Wasilla, "Silent Grace"; Yael Bortnick, Denali Elementary, Anchorage, "Spring Time"

Nonfiction

Winner: Lily Ann Jordan, home school, Anchorage, "Lily's Lunch Adventure"

Honorable Mention: Lauren Beckett, Soldotna Elementary, "My Big Sister"; Ryan Hughes, Soldotna Elementary, "John's Property"