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Story·Marian Homans-Turnbull, age 13 — A girl's last morning on a Nova Scotia island turns into a fog-bound adventure when their boat gets lost, leading to an unexpected sail on a schooner.

Poetry·Nicole Guenther, age 12 — A young poet confronts mortality by imagining flight beyond Earth's gravity, transforming the fear of nothingness into an invitation to soar through unnamed universes.

Story·Preston Craig, age 10 — A farm family loses their home to bank foreclosure and moves to a West Virginia coal mining town, where they find hope in staying together despite the difficult changes.

Poetry·Mira Bernstein Kaufman, age 11 — A child swimming with her father discovers strength in diving under waves instead of fighting them, finding joy in the ocean's power.

Poetry·Juliet B. Quaglia, age 10 — A child climbs a metaphorical ladder to sleep, ascending through expanding views from house to world, then drifting back down into dreams.

Story·Steven Lu, age 12 — A boy watches from his hillside home as flood waters from Deer Mountain devastate his village below, imagining the mountain as an angry deity.

Story·Sophia Stid, age 11 — A girl escapes to a secret clearing in the woods where she experiences brief moments of becoming the creatures around her—squirrel, robin, blade of grass.

Poetry·Jean Hope Sack, age 12 — A girl climbs an ancient Sequoia on her family's tree farm, watches an osprey soar past, and records the moment in her tree-kept poetry book.

Poetry·Maya Koretzky, age 12 — A speaker encounters an ancient, painted figure by firelight, and together they lie beneath stars, bridging time through shared wonder.

Story·Maria Lohr, age 13 — Two sisters on their Florida vacation sunrise walk discover baby sea turtles being attacked by seagulls and devise a plan to save them.