Winners of 2016 Creative Writing Competition

News

Each year, the ESU holds a creative writing competition for high school students in the Coachella Valley. This year we had over 100 submissions – on the topic of "Tomorrow is not promised."

The students' approaches varied widely. Some wrote formal essays, others submitted short stories. The judging was "blind"; the readers did not know the names of the students or their schools or their teachers. So we were surprised when the three winners were all from the same school – Coachella Valley High School – and from the same teacher – Simon Moore.

And the winners are:

• First place: Simon T. Moore (yes the teacher's son!), who wrote an affecting story about the struggles of a young man and his loving family to help him escape his environment and get to college. Read here. 
• Second place: Teresita Hernandez, who wrote about friendship in the face of a tragic illness. Read here.
• Third place: Lesley Chavez, who wrote about young people seeking connection and love amid the dislocations of an imagined war. Read here. 

Congratulations to each of our winners! If you would like to read their wonderful stories, you will find them attached to this newsletter

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