| | Published February 18th, 2008
| Orinda Junior Women's Club Announces "Green" Youth Ink 2009
| | Submitted by Lisa Rodriguez |  | | 7th- and 8th-grade OIS students in the Writing Symposium course
Ms. Risso teaches at OIS Photo Mary Risso
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The Orinda Junior Women's Club (OJWC) recently announced details for Youth Ink 2009. The annual creative writing contest is open to all sixth, seventh and eighth grade students who live or attend school in Orinda. The middle school writing contest supports literary arts within the community and awards cash prizes of $250, $125 and $75 to the top three winners as well as 10 honorable mention gift certificates.
Youth Ink Co-Chair Lisa Rodriguez said the writing contest began over a decade ago and took a hiatus before being resurrected by Rodriguez and co-chair Barbara Sullivan in 2008. "My background is in writing and journalism and PR," says Rodriguez. Rodriguez explains that Sullivan also has a writing background so it was natural for them to get involved and they "immediately received wonderful feedback from the community." Rodriguez says "Middle school includes so many changes and so many pressures," noting that while there are numerous sports-related outlets for those pressures, there aren't as many outlets in the arts and certainly not in writing.
The Youth Ink 2009 theme is GREEN. The theme was chosen based on feedback from the middle school student community. Sponsors believe it encourages highly personal and descriptive writing and lends well to open style choice. While GREEN entries could focus on the environment, students could also choose to write about a GREEN object, feeling GREEN, or whatever they choose. "We are glad to support a contest that recognizes writers - who are at times the unsung heroes of the arts," says Maureen Brown, president of OJWC. "We were amazed by the talented young writers who entered last year's contest, and we can't wait to read this year's submissions." A panel of four local professional writers, including reporters and best-selling novelists, will evaluate Youth Ink 2009 submissions and choose winners. The judges' names will be shared when the winners are announced at an awards ceremony at the Orinda Public Library on Thursday, April 30.
Youth Ink 2009 submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis but must be hand-delivered to a designated school representative or postmarked by March 4, 2009 in order to be considered for an award. Youth Ink 2009 submission forms are available through the administrative offices and English departments at Orinda Intermediate School, the Orinda Public Library, St. Perpetua School, Orinda Academy, Bentley School, Saklan Valley School and Julia Morgan School for Girls. The submissions can be mailed to: Youth Ink 2009, c/o Orinda Junior Women's Club, P.O. Box 40, Orinda, CA 94563.
Youth Ink 2009 sponsors include the Orinda Junior Women's Club, the City of Orinda, Friends of the Orinda Library, Ann Sullivan of Coldwell Banker, Denning & Company, Dragonfly Studio/Allyson Furlong Photography and several other local organizations and businesses.
Jean Follmer contributed to this article.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA