atmospheric setting

Story·Erik Dinardo, age 13 — A grieving man revisits places he shared with a lost child, finding each location abandoned or changed, until a ray of light breaks through.

Poetry·Riley Grace Carlson, age 9 — A child walks to a tree swing in a pasture, falls asleep, and wakes to find autumn has arrived while they slept.

Story·Colin Johnson, age 13 — A young surfer struggles with aggressive locals at Trestles surf break, learns the unspoken rules of lineup hierarchy, and finally earns respect by catching a twelve-foot wave.

Story·Isabel Folger — A grieving man revisits places he once shared with a child, finding them empty and changed, until a ray of light breaks through.

Poetry·Gabriel Wainio-Theberge, age 12 — Late geese flying south become a mourning choir whose honks lament autumn's end and winter's arrival, their voices mistaken for hunting hounds.

Story·William Gwaltney, age 12 — On Christmas Eve, a boy helps his father and veterinarian deliver a calf too large to be born naturally, saving its life through emergency surgery in a blizzard.

Story·Anna Hirtes, age 9 — An orphan girl named Shelly encounters a unicorn in the Magic Forest who saves her from a snake bite, then meets her identical twin Elizabeth.

Poetry·Laine Bruzek, age 12 — A child lies in grass watching the sky transform from day to night, observing clouds, sunset, stars, and moon in their eternal dance.

Poetry·Rhiannon Grodnik, age 11 — A young observer watches the sunset over San Francisco Bay, experiencing a moment of profound solitude and connection to the infinite before the city lights disappear into darkness.

Poetry·Rhiannon Grodnik, age 11 — A young observer watches sunset over San Francisco Bay, experiencing a moment of cosmic solitude before the city lights pull her back to the present.