Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists

Stone Soup began running a weekly Flash Contest in March 2020, based on our first Daily Creativity prompt of the week, which ran until the end of August 2020. What started as just one of our new projects to support our readers and contributors caught up in lock down and in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, turned into a popular weekly tradition where hundreds of young people picked up the prompt on a Monday, responded to it during the week, and sent us their work by Friday. The following weekend we published 5 of our favourites, and congratulated a few Honorable Mentions. Every contest has its own winners’ page, where you can read all the winning entries for the week. You can link to all of them from the list below. Congratulations to everyone who took part–especially our winners–and thank you for sending us your work! Flash Contest #22: Write a Story About a Unifying Place–Our Winners and Their Work! Flash Contest #22: Write a Story About a Unifying Place Maybe this is a coffee shop where a regular group of writers share their work, or a church where folks go to practice their religion. Simply explore how these people are unified, and why. For our last in the current series of weekly flash contests, entrants were inspired by another terrific prompt by Stone Soup reader and contributor Liam Hancock, 13. Liam asked you to write about a unifying place–and it was fascinating so see how you interpreted this. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of you thoughts of bookshops, libraries and favourite reading corners as your place of unity, comfort and companionship; others came up with a stunning range of locations they love for the people and the activities that take place in them. We read some beautiful writing this week, and are delighted to share the work of our winners with you on this page. Congratulations to all of them, and to our Honorable Mentions. Winners I walk the path I have walked many times by Morgan Dodd, 13, Portland, Oregon Waiting For Camp by Selina Lai, 10, Dublin, CA The Warehouse by Daniel Wei, 13, Weddington, NC Hope by April Yu, 12, East Brunswick, NJ Cinema by Annie Yu, 11, Great Neck, NY Honorable Mention Ireland by Stella Mae Cobb, 11, Norfolk, CT There are many like you! by Aashitha Jeyaganesh, 10, Edison, NJ The Library by Jason Liu, 11, Sharon, MA The Whales in the Metro Station by Kyler Min, 9, Vienna, VA …Read More Flash contest #21: Write a poem about your favorite place to be: Our Winners and their Work! Flash contest #21: Write a poem about your favorite place to be The week commencing August 17th (Daily Creativity Prompt #106) was our twenty-first week of Flash Contests. The prompt asked our entrants to write a poem about their favorite place to be. The over-fifty entries we received ranged from poetry about the comfort of one’s own room, to vacation spots in Hawaii, to family homes, to the peacefulness of nature, and much more! We greatly enjoyed reading all of the entries we received, as well as the happy feeling that accompanied them. Well done to all of our entrants; and a special congratulations to our Winners and Honorable Mentions, listed below. Read on past the list of winners to experience the Winners’ work for yourself! Winners Hawaii by Analise Braddock, 9 (Katonah, NY) My Favorite Place To Be by Georgia Marshall, 11 (Marblehead, MA) Cherish the Temporary by Reagan Ricker, 13 (Coto de Caza, CA) My Favorite People by Chloe Song, 12 (Lexington, MA) A Place Yet To Be by Anushka Trivedi, 10 (Silver Spring, MD) Honorable Mentions In the Mountains by Quinn Peacock Brush, 10 (Denver, CO) The Observation Deck by Nicholas Buckley, 13 (Wilmington, MA) Winter in my Bed Nova Macknik-Conde, 8 (Brooklyn, NY) My Room by Julia Marcus, 13 (Culver City, CA) Perfect For Me by April Yu, 12 (East Brunswick, NJ) Hawaii Analise Braddock, 9 Where sunscreen is your friend, Smells of salt and coconut invade your nose, Crish, crash goes the waves as you …Read More Flash Contest #20: Write a Poem Inspired by a Song: Our Winners and Their Work! Flash Contest #20: Write a poem inspired by a song. The week commencing August 10th (Daily Creativity Prompt #101) was our twentieth week of Flash Contests. The prompt asked our entrants to write a poem inspired by a song they’ve been listening to a lot. The entries we received ranged from poetry set to the tune of a certain song, poetry inspired by a theme of a song, poetry inspired by classical music, contemporary music, musicals, and even our entrants’ own musical compositions. We greatly enjoyed reading the many entries we received; well done to everyone who submitted to this prompt, and a special congratulations to our Winners and Honorable Mentions, listed below.  Read on past the list of placed entries to experience the Winners’ work for yourselves! Winners Satisfied by Savannah Black, 9 (Yuba City, CA) First Flight by Fern Hadley, 12 (Cary, NC) Requiem by Joyce Hong, 10 (Oakville, ON) Mendelssohn’s Voices by Eric Liang, 13 (Sherborn, MA) Last Night by Daniel Wei, 13 (Weddington, NC) Honorable Mentions The Lovely Birds by Nova Macknik-Conde, 8 (Brooklyn, NY) Christmas Carols by Ashvant Daniel, 11 (Portland, OR) Mad World 2020 by Emma Hoff, 8 (Bronx, NY) The King of the Snow by Kyler Min, 9 (Vienna, VA) Dance Monkey by Sophie Yu, 12 (Houston, TX) Satisfied Savannah Black, 9 I am never satisfied There is always another step to climb Another home run to hit Another goal to score Another painting to paint Another checkmate to you Another chore to do Another essay to write And …Read More Flash Contest #19: Write a backwards story: Our Winners and their Work! Flash contest #19: Write a backwards story The week commencing August 3 (Daily Creativity Prompt #96) was our nineteenth week of flash contests, with a prompt that asked our entrants to write a story that goes backwards. The entries