Students

Tomorrow's "Masters of the Macabre"?

Poe Young Writers’ Competition winners and finalists named

The Library of Virginia, the Poe Museum, and Comcast have announced the winners and finalists of the "Poe: Man, Myth, or Monster" Young Writers' Competition. High school students were invited to submit their poetry and short stories, written in the veins of the genres Poe mastered—mystery, science fiction, and horror. First place winners earned a $100 savings bond and filmed reading of their winning story or poem on "Comcast ON DEMAND Local Features," second place finalists earned the same prize with a $50 savings bond, and third place finalists and "People’s Pick" Competition winners earned a Comcast Prize Pack.

Poetry

First Place: “No Birds,” by Bryan Killian, 10th grade, Deep Run High School, Henrico

Second Place: “aMuse,” by Kirk Roundtree, 11th grade, Kings Fork High School, Suffolk

Third Place: “Shades of Evil,” by Robert Poindexter, 10th grade, Deep Run High School, Henrico

“People’s Pick” Competition Poetry Winner
“No Birds,” by Bryan Killian, 10th grade, Deep Run High School, Henrico

Finalists:
“The Wondrous Decomposition,” by James E. Bullock, Jr., 9th grade, Monacan High School, Midlothian
“My Fair Maiden,” Alexis Exum, 10th grade, Deep Run High School, Henrico
“Out of Options,” by Olivia Mathias, 10th grade, Deep Run High School, Henrico

Short Story

First Place: “Elizabeth’s Dream,” by Keely Wright, 11th Grade, Hanover High School, Hanover

Second Place: “Darkness and Light,” by Evelyn Hildebrand, 10th grade, Springfield

Third Place: “The Man Who Talked to God,” by Alex Zuercher, 11th grade, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, Richmond

“People’s Pick” Competition Short Story Winner
“The Man Who Talked to God,” by Alex Zuercher, 11th grade, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, Richmond

Finalists:
“Requiem Seraphicae” by Elizabeth Ballou, 9th grade, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, Richmond
“My Best Friend” by Matthew Disler, 9th grade, Collegiate School, Richmond
“Disturbed” by Nyssa Giangregorio, 12th grade, Princess Anne High School, Virginia Beach

Thank you to contest judges Barbara Batson, Library of Virginia; Tracy Fair Robertson, Virginia Department of Education; Emyl Jenkins, author; Frances Lively, educator; Ann Marie Seely, educator; and Chris Semtner, Edgar Allan Poe Museum.