strong imagery

Story·Adair Brooks, age 13 — A deaf girl named Shira, isolated from her musical family, discovers her artistic talent and creates a fundraising campaign for Haiti earthquake victims through her paintings.

Poetry·Mary Woods, age 12 — A harness racing scene unfolds through storm imagery, where horses' hoofbeats create a rhythmic song against the track in rain and wind.

Story·Natalie Han, age 11 — An eleven-year-old reflects on how her relationship with her older brother has changed as they've grown up, remembering their imaginative games and missing their closeness.

Story·Arjun Pillai Hausner, age 12 — A kind cow helps a rhino and a bird in the forest, and when a tiger threatens her, they return the favor by rescuing her together.

Poetry·Ash Berger, age 12 — A mountain biker becomes one with the trail, feeling every bump and curve while nature cheers them on through forest and stream.

Story·Amanda Kneppel, age 13 — A girl reluctantly follows her friend out her bedroom window at midnight to explore a moonlit field, discovering freedom and wonder in the darkness she once feared.

Poetry·Ella Csuros, age 8 — A bilingual poem where water becomes the island where grandmother lives, with bears, ocean lullabies, and uncle's fishing boat.

Story·Eve Driver, age 13 — During a thunderstorm, a thirteen-year-old searches for his younger brother who ran away after a cruel argument, finding him at the tree where their parents met.

Story·Rachel Keirstead, age 13 — After her grandmother's death, Addie receives a mysterious locket and coded letter that reveal her grandmother's love story and a message about happiness.

Fog

Poetry·Robin Sandell, age 11 — Evening fog cascades over mountains like a waterfall, settles in the valley through sunset, then retreats at dawn back to the sea.