Announcing the winners of the 2017 KET Young Writers Contest!
Thank you to everyone who submitted stories and poems to the 2017 KET Young Writers Contest! Each spring, the KET Young Writers Contest encourages children to submit stories for a statewide competition. The 2017 Young Writers Contest has expanded to include three categories into which students may enter: illustrated stories, grades K-5; short stories, grades 4-5; and poetry, grades 6-8.
We are excited to congratulate the following winners and proud to publish their entries for your enjoyment. Congratulations!
Kindergarten - Illustrated Stories
1st Place: Ibraheem Gauhar; Louisville, KY
Smash Blast
2nd Place: Jack Reinecke; Cold Spring, KY
The House Book
3rd Place: Ryan Maya; Louisville, KY
Griff the Ostrich
First Grade - Illustrated Stories
1st Place: Huda Hasnain; Goshen, KY
Huda’s Adventure To The Red Woods
2nd Place: Mustafa Sattaur; Louisville, KY
The Reading Tiger
3rd Place: Lexie Smith; Drakesboro, KY
Let’s Work Together
Second Grade - Illustrated Stories
1st Place: Zaineb Elmerse; Louisville, KY
The First Dinosaur Firefighter
2nd Place: Ayat Amrozia; Crestwood, KY
Courage
3rd Place: Rosie Katz; Lexington, KY
The Story of How I Met Kailash Satyarthi
Third Grade - Illustrated Stories
1st Place: Hala Saleh; Louisville, KY
The Syrian Girl
2nd Place: Lucy Donohue; Louisville, KY
Do Frogs Like Cupcakes
3rd Place: Nethra Gopalakrishnan; Middleton, WI
Is Change GOOD?
Fourth Grade - Short Stories
1st Place: Abby Gentner; Louisville, KY
The Puppy
2nd Place: Viviana Amorim; Bowling Green, KY
How Wolf Earned His Howl
3rd Place: Fatima Hashmi; Louisville, KY
Cubecraftia’s Duel
Fifth Grade - Short Stories
1st Place: Kamryn Hahn; Danville, KY
Lost Girl
2nd Place: Kristin Novak; Willisburg, KY
The Pumpkin Seed Tale
3rd Place: Brady Hargett; Brooksville, KY
Best Day Ever
Sixth Grade - Poetry
1st Place: Katelynn Neace; Wurtland, KY
Where I’m From
2nd Place: Ethan Huff; Wurtland, KY
Where I’m From
3rd Place: Isabella Sanchez; Louisville, KY
Night Time Food
Seventh Grade - Poetry
1st Place: Carlie Griffith; Paducah, KY
One Memory at a Time
2nd Place: Haley Thacker; Brodhead, KY
Blue
3rd Place: Tyler Stevenson; Mt. Washington, KY
The Girl with the Baking Soda
Eighth Grade - Poetry
1st Place: Hannah Neeley; Berea, KY
Hard Lines and Scars
2nd Place: Adelina Gonzalez; Nicholasville, KY
Ode to the Book Never Read
3rd Place: Alyssa Keeling; Bardstown, KY
Good Hearted Men
Poetry Contest Celebrity Judges
Special Thanks to our Poetry Contest Celebrity Judges!
Click on the writer’s name below to learn about our final judges.
- 2013 Gift of Freedom Award winner – Winner of a Pushcart Prize and Ohioana Library Association Book of the Year in Poetry for poetry collection Kettle Bottom
- 2008 Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing award winner
- Winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence for The Birds of Opulence
- Winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature – Pushcart Prize nominee – Serves as Appalachian Writer in Residency and teaches at Berea & in the brief residency MFA in Writing program at Spalding University
- 2013 Poet Laureate of Kentucky – Co-founder of Affrilachian poets – Founding editor of Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachia Arts & Culture
- Professor in the Department of English & the African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky