2023 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
The Ann Arbor District Library is excited to host its 31st annual “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in Winter 2023! Young Adult authors take part as judges each year, who then read and select the winning stories. Short stories, flash fiction and poems are judged in three different categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9 & 10, and Grades 11 & 12. The top three writers in each age group receive fabulous prizes. This is an ever-growing, state-wide contest.
Kids in grades 3-5 can also enter AADL's Write On! short story writing contest, which will take place in January and February of 2023.
How to Enter the Contest:
The 2023 It's All Write Teen Writing Contest will accept submissions January 9-March 5, 2023. Please note that the 2023 contest is open to Michigan residents only.
The submission form links will become available on this site when the contest opens.
Click here for more information about the 2023 contest!
2022 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
The 2022 It's All Write! Teen Writing Contest is now closed for submissions. Winners were announced at the online awards ceremony on May 21, viewable on aadl.org and YouTube.
The Ann Arbor District Library is excited to host its 30th annual “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in Winter 2022! Young Adult authors take part as judges each year, who then read and select the winning stories. Stories are judged in three different categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9 & 10, and Grades 11 & 12. The top three writers in each age group receive fabulous prizes. This is an ever-growing, state-wide contest.
Kids in grades 3-5 can also enter AADL's Write On! short story writing contest, which will accept entries January 10 - February 7, 2022.
2021 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
The 2021 It's All Write! Teen Writing Contest is now closed for submissions. Join us for the virtual Awards Ceremony on Sunday, May 23 at 1pm on AADL.TV.
The Ann Arbor District Library is excited to host its 29th annual “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in Winter 2021! Young Adult authors take part as judges each year, who then read and select the winning stories. Stories are judged in three different categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9 & 10, and Grades 11 & 12. The top three writers in each age group receive fabulous prizes. This is an ever-growing, state-wide contest.
Kids in grades 3-5 can also enter AADL's Write On! short story writing contest, which will take place in January and February of 2021.
How to Enter the Contest:
The 2021 teen writing contest is now closed.
Congratulations to our 2021 winners! You can see the winners and read the winning stories, along with all the submitted stories whose author gave us permission to publish their work, below.
2021 Winners in Flash Fiction:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Mary Russell | "The Gift" |
| 2nd | Grace Belanger | "Letting go" |
| 3rd | Jessica Primus | "My Little Red Jacket" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Anonymous | "Sugar High" |
| 2nd | Jessica Jia | "Growing Up" |
| 3rd | Angie Liu | "Little Red Riding Hood" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Eilie Weatherbee | "Gone" |
| 2nd | Chloe Long | "Grief's Journey" |
| 3rd | Helen Schmitter | "In our Kitchen" |
2021 Winners in Short Story:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Grace Liu | "Yellow" |
| 2nd | Jennifer Tang | "the ocean swallows" |
| 3rd | Ella Gonzalez | "FlowerGirl" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Olivia Palmbos | "Mother" |
| 2nd | Kriya Jaiganesh | "Scales and Arpeggios" |
| 3rd | Ioana Dumitrascu | "I Guess I'm Not the Happiest" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Hye-won Yoo | "[238] Trial Run 52" |
| 2nd | Anonymous | "Birds of America" |
| 3rd | Audrey George | "The Gray Fox" |
2021 Winners in Poetry:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Helen Kolias | "Never Again" |
| 2nd | Rebecca van Lent | "Supernova" |
| 3rd | Anonymous | "Blue" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Sean McMillen | "To Stand" |
| 2nd | Gillian Perry | "PUPPET SHOW, DECEMBER" |
| 3rd | Zain Rahim | "Untitled" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Anonymous | "My Honest Poem" |
| 2nd | Madeline Gupta | "My People: In Reverse" |
| 3rd | Chloe Long | "A Hypocrite's Sword" |
Congratulations to our 2021 Finalists in each category! Click the links below to see the lists of this year's finalists:
You can read all Finalist submissions here.
You can read all the submissions to the 2021 It's All Write contest here.
2020 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
The Ann Arbor District Library is excited to host its 28th annual “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in Spring 2020! Young Adult authors take part as judges each year, who then read and select the winning stories. Stories are judged in three different categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9 & 10, and Grades 11 & 12. The top three writers in each age group receive fabulous prizes. This is an ever-growing, international contest. Winners will be announced at our Teen Writing Festival on Sunday, June 9 from 1-3pm at the Downtown Library.
Congratulations to our 2020 winners in all categories!
2020 Winners in Flash Fiction:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Riya Rao | "The Tenth Birthday Gift" |
| 2nd | Yufei Fu | "School Days" |
| 3rd | Liah Igel | "A Few Clicks" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Shanelle Felipe | "Button" |
| 2nd | Grace Lee | "The Sounds" |
| 3rd | Christy Delaney | "Pandora's Garden" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Lola Simon | "The Boys" |
| 2nd | Anonymous | "Dark Regrets" |
| 3rd | Emma Blanchet | "Roommate" |
2020 Winners in Short Story:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Jeremy Parker | "Sunset" |
| 2nd | Anita Gaenko | "The Girl With the Sunflower Shoes" |
| 3rd | Anonymous | "Shikata Ga Nai" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Emma Washburn | "Hemingway" |
| 2nd | Norah Armijo | "The Convict" |
| 3rd | Anonymous | "Milk and honey" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Maggie Lareau | "Bright Red Buoys" |
| 2nd | Kat Andrews | "April Showers Bring May Flowers" |
| 3rd | Vanessa Abraham | "Pilgrimage" |
2020 Winners in Poetry:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Devin Sanders | "Caged" |
| 2nd | Bhavana Veeravalli | "Honey-Milk Glow" |
| 3rd | Anonymous | "Blossoming Shadows" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Jeannie Kim | "Planting Peonies" |
| 2nd | Ha Tran Tran | "A Love Letter for Home" |
| 3rd | Rina Huang | "Miss" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Kathryn Lakin | "Survived By... 12/22/2011" |
| 2nd | Elyse Thomas | "star-spangled black girl" |
| 3rd | Danae Younge | "If I Could Pinch a Moment in Time" |
View 2020 Finalist Stories
View All 2020 Submissions
2019 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
The Ann Arbor District Library is excited to host its 27th annual “It’s All Write!” Teen Writing Contest in Spring 2019! Young Adult authors take part as judges each year, who then read and select the winning stories. Stories are judged in three different categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9 & 10, and Grades 11 & 12. The top three writers in each age group receive fabulous prizes. This is an ever-growing, international contest. Winners will be announced at our Teen Writing Festival on Sunday, June 9 from 1-3pm at the Downtown Library.
Congratulations to our 2019 winners in all categories!
2019 Winners in Flash Fiction:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Allison Xu | "An Old Recliner" |
| 2nd | Kathryn Plotner | "Creases" |
| 3rd | Lauryn Alexander | "Shadow Man" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Syed Ali | "The Pink Raincoat" |
| 2nd | Annie Chen | "Sit" |
| 3rd | Anna Campbell | "Weather and Whimsy" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Julia Somma | "Recycling" |
| 2nd | Caitlin Leong | "emptea" |
| 3rd | Maeve Florence-Smith | "Elk Don't Read" |
2019 Winners in Short Story:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Olivia Palmbos | "First World Problems" |
| 2nd | Kate Castrogiovanni | "A Whole Lot of Ruckus" |
| 3rd | Janae Wallace | "When You're Just Normal" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Elyse Thomas | "Ode to My Father and Jamaica" |
| 2nd | Jennifer Chiu | "Taro Pudding" |
| 3rd | Jordan Fox | "The Bridge" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Tyler Econa | "The Orchestra" |
| 2nd | Savannah Grace | "The Flowers of Seoul" |
| 3rd | Dakota Collins | "Nikola" |
2019 Winners in Poetry:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Emma Blanchet | "Still Growing Up" |
| 2nd TIE | Noah Arinze | "It's Time to Face the Reality" |
| 2nd TIE | Katerina Selene Fruedenberg | "Scar" |
| 3rd | Molly Reiser | "ocd" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Loryn Smith | "dear..." |
| 2nd | Julie Griswold | "(Cinder) Ella" |
| 3rd | Isabelle Fauteaux | "Scorpius" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Anonymous | "Eavesdropped" |
| 2nd | Nikhita Dakar | "An Ode to My Culture" |
| 3rd | Catherine George | "Girl Talk" |
View 2019 Finalist Stories
View All 2019 Submissions
2018 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners of this year's It's All Write contest! The winners were announced at the Teen Writing Festival on June 10 and are also listed below. Stories will be published on the library website this summer! All winners and finalists will receive their certificates in the mail if they did not attend the Teen Writing Festival, and winners will receive their award and prize money in the mail within 3 weeks. Thanks to all who participated in this year's contest! The 2019 It's All Write contest will begin in January of next year.
2018 Winners in Flash Fiction:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Turner Touliuszis | "The Wyvern" |
| 2nd | Anonymous | "Probably Just Teenager Crap" |
| 3rd | Felicity Rosa-Davies | "My Father's Favorite Star" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Elyse Thomas | "Tale of Black Culture" |
| 2nd | Claire Robinson | "Camera Roll" |
| 3rd | Lexie Burns | "Colors of the Dead" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Tanvi Jaikamal | "I Didn't Mean To" |
| 2nd | Deeya Chaturvedi | "Stage Fright" |
| 3rd | Ronia Cabansag | "Dinner" |
2018 Winners in Short Story:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Charlotte Sovka | "Diaspora" |
| 2nd | Anonymous | Level Nine |
| 3rd | Aubrey Pierson | "Mr. Linden's Library" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Kira Brehob | "What's Your Name" |
| 2nd | Annilee Hampton | "Crossed-off Dates and Missed Events" |
| 3rd | Noah Wilson | "Almost Home" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Anonymous | To Us He Is Eliah |
| 2nd | Mary Collins | "Clockwork" |
| 3rd | Karen Liu | "Sunscreen for Survival" |
View 2018 Finalist Stories
View All 2018 Submissions
2017 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest
"It's All Write!" Awards Ceremony 2017
569 writers sent their stories to the 2017 "It's All Write!" Teen Writing Contest! Below is a list of the 2017 winners and finalists.
2017 Winners in Flash Fiction:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Lily Patterson | "25 Pills" |
| 2nd | Madeline Gupta | "The Color Blue" |
| 3rd | Jeremy Klooster | "The Cycle" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Julianna Eng | "A Hymn from a Mother" |
| 2nd | Seun Ajepe | "They Came for My Tusks" |
| 3rd | Jessica Xu | "The Orange Tree" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Darby Baird | "Unseen" |
| 2nd | Mackenzie Konschuh | "The Monsters in Us" |
| 3rd | Miranda McCarthy | "Open New File" |
2017 Winners in Short Story:
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Billie Hoffmann | "Dans le Trou de Lapin (Down the Rabbit Hole)" |
| 2nd | Delaney Christy | "5 Million 270 Thousand Seconds" |
| 3rd | Amber Yu | "Why I Loved You" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Adam Whitbeck | "The Sky and the Land" |
| 2nd | Sophie Nadel | "The Traveling Hat" |
| 3rd | Julia Somma | "His & Hers" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Anya Svintsitski | "Watchman" |
| 2nd | Sara Roza | "Leave the Doors Open" |
| 3rd | Kaleigh Perkins | "California" |
View 2017 Finalist Stories
View All 2017 Submissions
2016 "It's All Write!" Short Story Contest
Around 496 writers sent their stories to the 2016 "It's All Write!" Teen Short Story Contest! Below is a list of the 2016 winners.
6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Chioma Ilozor | "Where We Belong" |
| 2nd | Deniz Kirca | "My Father's Memories" |
| 3rd | Elizabeth Plotner | "The Cage" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Samantha Pyo | "Unprecedented" |
| 2nd | Zoe Lubetkin | "To Desire the Sky" |
| 3rd | Tiffany Vembenil | "Dear Dawn" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Devin Quinn | "Lock's Wasteland" |
| 2nd | Samuel Giedzinski | "The Painter's Foe" |
| 3rd | Katherine Horning | "Coming Out" |
View 2016 Finalist Stories
View All 2016 Submissions
Enjoy the stories and happy writing!
2015 "It's All Write!" Short Story Contest
Around 571 writers sent their stories to the 2015 "It's All Write!" Teen Short Story Contest! Below is a list of the 2015 winners. 6th-8th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Madilynn O’Hara | "Why Walter Adams Cheated at Bingo" |
| 2nd | Laura Edwards | "Sea Smiles" |
| 3rd | Anonymous | "Living Among the Dead" |
9th-10th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Felicia Danu | "Tethered" |
| 2nd | Ella Staats | "Jessie" |
| 3rd | Michelle Glans | "Alive (على قيد الحياة)" |
11th-12th Grade Winners:
| 1st | Tiffany Wang | "A Girl, in Seven Parts" |
| 2nd | Devin Quinn | "Night-Birds" |
| 3rd | Hannah McSorley | "Amongst the Stars" |
View 2015 Finalist Stories
View All 2015 Submissions
2014 "It's All Write!" Short Story Contest
Around 358 teen writers turned in stories for the 2014 "It's All Write!" teen short story contest. Below is a list of the 2014 winners (and past winners) from the It's All Write! contest, including a list of the 2014 finalists. You can also read the compiled 2014 "It's All Write!" Book as well as a full list of submissions.
Middle School Winners
| 1st | Zoe Lubetkin | "Jumping for the Young and Rash" | Text-Only Version | |
| 2nd | Elena Bernier | "The Elevator" | Text-Only Version | |
| 3rd | Mary Collins | "The Gryphon Trainer" | Text-Only Version |
9th-10th Grade Winners
| 1st | Avis Zane | "Saint Simone Against the Fear" | ||
| 2nd | Kelsey Towne | "Aspartame" | Text-Only Version | |
| 3rd | Jackson Hassell | "The Daedalus Network" | Text-Only Version |
11-12th Grade Winners
| 1st | Eveline Liu | "a lonely hunter" | Text-Only Version | |
| 2nd | Annie Gao | "The Baby Maker" | ||
| 3rd | Nina Shallman | "At the Pond" |
2014 Finalists in three grade categories:
6-8th Grade:
| Elena Bernier "The Elevator" Henry Branch "The Immigrant Kid" Text-Only Version Mary Collins "The Gryphon Trainer" Text-Only Version Heidi Hepler "Why the Opposum has a Pouch" Text-Only Version Mallery A. Bee "Love and Loss: The Way the World Turns" Text-Only Version Hannah Kathryn Cohen "Girls Don't Wear Dog Tags" Text-Only Version Celia Kessler "Paper" Text-Only Version Ryan Klooster "Ice" Text-Only Version |
Emily Lancaster "Nukasāna" Text-Only Version Zoe Lubetkin "Jumping For the Young and Rash" Text-Only Version Celeste Pan "Perfekte Fehl" Text-Only Version Bridget Roberts "Snowman for Sam" Text-Only Version Emma Roth "Jailbird" Text-Only Version Lydia Stevens "Just a Few Folds" Text-Only Version Christopher Zou"Gentlemen Love Money" Text-Only Version |
9-10th Grade:
|
Aleyah Austin "Lonely Landscapes" Text-Only Version Kate Cohee "Can I Climb Them?" Text-Only Version Sarah DeMont "With Clouds Above Me" Text-Only Version Catherine Garton "When I Fall" Text-Only Version Jackson Hassell "The Daedalus Network" Text-Only Version |
Maariya Mahmood "A Sightless World" Text-Only Version Emerald Norman "Lumina" Text-Only Version Mya Torres "The House of Horrors" Text-Only Version Kelsey Towne "Aspartame" Text-Only Version Avis Zane "Saint Simone Against the Fear" |
11-12th Grade:
|
Hanel Baveja "Kelani" Annie Gao "The Baby Maker" Katherine Hernandez "Ammunition" Text-Only Version Katheryne Johnston "The Last Piece" Lydia Kibler Evans "The Bird Girl" Text-Only Version |
Eveline Liu "a lonely hunter" Text-Only Version Jacqueline Ose "Under the City" Text-Only Version Ben Ratner "A Different Woman" Text-Only Version Ellen Sauer "Recapitulation" Text-Only Version Nina Shallman "At the Pond" |