We’re so excited to share the ten finalists in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for this year’s Young Authors Writing Competition!

Our judges had a real challenge in selecting ten writers for recognition among the hundreds of quality submissions we received from all over the world. We appreciate the chance to read the work of everyone who submitted, and hope that writers who weren’t selected for the top ten will continue to submit in the future.

The final three will be announced at the end of this week. Until then, thanks again for sharing your work with us, and a special congratulations to the writers listed below.
Happy writing!

Finalists are listed in no particular order.

Fiction Finalists
Kaylee Jeong – To Let out the Sun
Danica Chen – SAT Reading Test
Abigail Coulter – Zelda
Kush Dhungana – Lost in Thought
Kaya Dierks – My Goddamn Pink House
Kelly Fan – All the Time in the World
Kathleen Godar – Stardust
Devanshi Gupta – In Place Never Again
Kelley Zhang – The Perfect Ending
Kinza Naser – Nightmares

Nonfiction Finalists
Arushi Avachat – of honey and spice
Justin Chang – Subway Encounter
Hollis Clark – Empty Bunks
Aidan Forster – Instructions for Suburban Boy Love
Sophia Horowicz – Filha
Laila Kayyali – Memories of Palestine/Lydda in 1948
Margaret Keller – Bear Hug
Ingrid Ren – Talk to Me
Alisha Yi – To Imagine Without
Sahara Sidi – Lexi

Poetry Finalists
Emily Tian – Clean
Linda Ye – 5 a.m. by the railroad tracks
Aidan Forster – Self Portrait as Carolina / Sext to RuPaul
Mia Nelson – Frida Khalo Takes a Rib from Diego Rivera
Savannah Bradley – sunlight through the honey jar
Victoria Maung – to you, my lover
Emma Camp – My Grandmother Speaks of the War
Eugene Lee – The Impossible Age of Everyone
Qingying Li – Badlands