Area Teens Win Writing Contest

Sun., June 13, 1999

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

Two Inland Northwest teens have won top honors in an international outdoor writing competition for high school students sponsored by the Outdoor Writers Association of America.

Elisa Marra, a senior at Mead High School, won first place and $300 in the Norm Strung/OWAA Youth Writing Contest.

Matt Corsi, a senior at Lakeland High School in Rathdrum, Idaho, won second-place and $250 in the contest open to published writing on an outdoor topic.

Marra and Corsi were finalists in the 1998 outdoor writing contest sponsored by The Spokesman-Review. Their stories were published in the Outdoors section on Dec. 20 and forwarded to the international contest.

Other finalists in The Spokesman-Review’s annual contest were Mead students Jillian Smith and Yolonda Lahren.

Marra’s winning story, “The Fawn,” was a fictional account of two young children who meet a tragic fate when they come between two deer and a hunter.

Corsi’s story, “Avalanche Lake,” recounts a hike-in fly-fishing trip in Glacier National Park.

In 13 years, 21 finalists from The Spokesman-Review’s contest have gone on to win international awards.

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