The Anson County Writers’ Club held its 30th annual awards ceremony in the Little Theater of the H.B. Allen Library on Feb. 24, recognizing winners of the 2018 contests in prose and poetry.
The first contest was held in 1989, the year the club was organized.
The contests are divided into youth (grades 3-6, 7-9, and 10-12) and adult. Judges were members of the Union County Writers’ Club, who read the anonymous entries and returned the results, which were matched to names held by the contest committee. The winners were notified the second week in February.
Kaye Ratliff of Wadesboro, president of the club, said, “The Anson County Writers’ Club’s mission is to foster the art of writing and to promote the love of reading and learning in Anson County.”
First place in Youth Poetry, grades 3-6, went to Isabella Osborn, Peachland-Polkton Elementary School, for “Sunset in Summer.” Trebor McQueen, Morven Elementary School, won second place for “The Sun.” Also in grades 3-6, Ellie Melton, Ansonville Elementary School, won first place in Youth Prose for “A Strange Key,” and Chase Taft, Ansonville Elementary School, won second place for “The Haunted House.”
Winner of Youth Poetry, grades 7-9, was William Rocky Moore, Anson High School, for “A Grandma’s Love.” Zoha Ali of Anson Middle School won first place in Youth Prose, grades 7-9, for “Over,” and Corra Covington placed second for “Don’t Sugar Coat It.”
There were no winners in Youth Poetry or Prose in grades 10-12.
In Adult Poetry, first place was won by Ratliff for “Goth.” Second place went to Mario Kersey of Raleigh for “The Poem Cried.” Charles Kaska of Heath Springs, South Carolina, won first place in Adult Prose for his short story, “The Assignation.”
A special award of an engraved plaque was given to Randy Tarlton for his years of work “behind the scenes” at the awards ceremony.
More information on the club is available online at ansoncountywritersclub.org. “Anson Pathways X,” an anthology of the winning entries from 2016 through 2018, is available for $5 through the Anson County Arts Council.
Isabella Osborn, Trebor McQueen, Chase Taft, Ellie Melton, Charles Kaska, Kaye Ratliff, Corra Covington, Zoha Ali and William Rocky Carpenter were winners at the 30th annual awards ceremony for the Anson Writers Club.