This week we announced the winners of the first-ever Spark a Story writing contest, a short story competition created to find and encourage the nation’s best high school writing. Following the call for submissions from students across the country, HMH editors carefully selected the top twenty stories based on their creativity, originality and overall quality of writing, and published them in an anthology titled Spark a Story: Twenty Short Stories by American Teens.
In this four-post series, we will be highlighting this next generation of American writers and storytellers.
KYLA DUHART
The Unfortunate Tale of Same Withersby
A dedicated student, loving daughter, and friend to all, Kyla’s interests vary. She loves to photograph nature, advance her knowledge in math, and, most importantly, follow the path God has set for her. She is on the honor roll, has received a 4.0 grade point average, and is a six-year attendee of Centerpoint Church in Colton, California. Her future goals include a math profession, continuous attendance at her church, and to be everlasting friends with her best friend, Athena O’lear Thompson.
ADELLE ELSE
Dream World
Adelle resides in Alexandria, Virginia. Writing, art, and photography have always been strong passions of hers. In the future, she aspires to travel the world, seeing as many places as she can, seeking to capture them in words, photos, and on canvas. Much of her writing inspiration comes from places she has seen and the nature around us. Some of her favorite places she has visited are Dubai and Hawaii. She has earned a black belt in tae kwon do and is proficient in four languages. She intends to keep writing and see where it takes her in the future.
BETHANY HALL
Noli Me Tangere
Bethany wants to become a high school English teacher. She loves to play piano, which she has been studying for six years. She is the youngest of six children and her father is a pastor. She has won two other writing awards, from Scholastic.
AAMNA HAQ
Only a Fool Would
The author of “Only a Fool Would,” Aamna is currently a high school senior in California. She loves reading, especially mystery and science fiction novels. She is involved in journalism, creative writing, and STEM, and hopes to be able to pursue work in all of these areas when she is older.
ANNIE HOANG
Of Metaphors, Monsters, and Wild Thoughts
Annie is a fourteen-year-old student from Portland, Oregon. She lives most of her days enjoying the rain, learning new things, and hanging out with family and friends. Every other moment is spent delving into fictional worlds and inventing her own through her writing. When asked what she wants to do when she’s older, her answer is constantly changing, but her goal in life is to make a positive change. She would like to thank you for reading her writing (including this very-awkward-to-write biography), and hopes that her words have given you something to take with you.
