Sign up for Express
New from Palo Alto Online, Express is a daily e-edition, distributed by e-mail every weekday.
Sign up to receive Express!


Palo Alto Online Town Square Google
Login | Register
Sign up for eBulletins
Click for Palo Alto, California Forecast
Short Story Contest

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE
12TH ANNUAL PALO ALTO WEEKLY

Short Story Contest Logo
Adult Winners
Put up your feet and enjoy! As our contribution to your holiday relaxation, we are pleased to bring you the adult prize winners in the Weekly's 12th annual Short Story Contest.
The three winning stories will take you along with a boy preparing for his first day at an elite high school, a woman painting in the mountains and a little girl and her mother cooking in the kitchen of a Southern plantation.
These stories were selected from 96 entries in the adult category. Next Wednesday, we will publish the first-prize winners in the three youth categories.
The adult winners will receive cash prizes of $500 for first place, $300 for second and $200 for third. They were also honored at a reception Dec. 2 at the Weekly.
Selecting the best stories was not an easy task. Editorial department staff members spent hours reading the stories before passing 10 finalists to the panel of judges, who selected the top three.
The adult winners were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges who are local writers and teachers of writing: Pam Gullard, Tom Parker and Linda Gray Sexton.
During the entire judging process, the names were removed from all stories so that neither the editorial staff nor the judges knew the identities of the winners until after judging was complete.
Judges looked for characteristics such as an original voice, emotional impact, perception of the situation and precision in the language used.
Thank you to those who entered--we enjoyed reading your stories. The competition was tough, so don't feel discouraged if you didn't win. Keep writing, and try again next year in the Weekly's 13th annual Short Story Contest.
First Place
Phil Taylor, Junkanoo

Second Place
Constance Crawford, Don't bother the nice lady

Third Place
Lalita Tademy, The cooking lesson

Young Writers Winners

It is our pleasure to bring you the youth prize winners in the Palo Alto Weekly's 12th annual Short Story Contest. The winning adult entries were published last week.
The youth winners were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges. The 6- to 9-year-old and 10- to 13-year-old divisions were judged by three local people with a longtime interest in children's books: Los Altos children's book author Shirley Climo, Palo Alto Children's Librarian Katy Obringer and Los Altos children's book author Bruce Balan. The young adult (14- to 17-year-old) winners were chosen by judges who are local writers and teachers of writing: Pamela Gullard, Tom Parker and Linda Gray Sexton.
The 107 entries in the youth divisions were screened by the editorial staff of the Weekly, which passed along semifinalists to the judges. Youth winners will receive gift certificates of $100 for first place, $75 for second and $50 for third, from sponsoring independent bookstores Kepler's (14- to 17-year-old category), Printers Inc. (10- to 13-year-old category) and Linden Tree Children's Records and Books (6- to 9-year-old category).
We would like to thank all who entered the 12th annual Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest. We enjoyed reading your stories and encourage you to enter the 13th annual contest next year.
ADVERTISEMENT

This will be replaced by the player.
Visit the Los Altos Kids Club Web site

2007 Awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association

Palo Alto Weekly

First Place
Local News Coverage
Local Breaking-News Story
Feature Story

Second Place
Feature Story
Environmental Reporting
Sports Coverage
General News Photo
Photo Essay
Freedom of Information

The Almanac

First Place
Environmental Reporting
Editorial Pages
Lifestyle Coverage

Second Place
Environmental Reporting

Mountain View Voice

Second Place
General Excellence
Editorial Comment
Front-Page Design

 

landscape garden design
graphics and computer consulting support
state quarter trading
Palo Alto Online   © 2009 Palo Alto Online
All rights reserved.