Tellers Of Outdoor Tales Recognized

Sun., Dec. 21, 1997

A poem by Desire McGinn, a junior at Mead High School, has been judged the best of 164 entries to win The Spokesman-Review 1997 outdoor writing contest for high school students.

In “Fence Post,” McGinn sets the tense and sleepless scene as a child waits for its father to return from hunting.

Runners-up include “Shroom Smitten,” by Mead senior Robert Peterson; “His Mountain,” by Mead senior Bethany Luck, and “I Can Dig It,” by West Valley High School junior Rikki Sullivan.

McGinn will receive $100 for first place, while each of the other winners will get $50.

Each finalist will be entered in the Outdoor Writers Association of America National Scholastic Writing Contest, which is open to any outdoors writing published in 1997 by junior high or high school students.

National winners, who can earn up to $300, will be announced next spring. In 11 years, 18 finalists from The Spokesman-Review contest have gone on to win national awards.

The entries were judged by 10 of the newspaper’s writers and editors. The winning entries once again have been illustrated on this page by Spokane Valley artist Dale Hamilton, a graduate of Central Valley High School.

Other young writers who made the final rounds of judging included Andy Kroupa of Curlew High School; Cassandra Rorie of Rogers High School; Brian Donovan of North Central High School; Lauren Dickson and Marian Thorpe of Ferris High School, and Nicole Payne, Jeff Nelson, Jeff Sackmann and Jill Becker of Mead High School.

The newspaper’s contest is announced each fall.

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