The Telling Room Announces Grand Prize Winner of Statewide Writing Contest & County Winners

Jules Vázquez, age 15 of South Portland, Maine, is the grand prize winner of The Telling Room's 16th Annual Statewide Writing Contest! Vázquez’s winning poem, “Older Sister to Younger Brother,” was selected as the winner by a panel of 24 judges that included educators, local authors, Telling Room alumni, and current Telling Room students. Vázquez's poem will be published in our upcoming annual anthology of youth writing, and will receive a cash prize of $250.

“I felt the poem was so meaningful,” says Jamila Mohamed Ahmed, a 13-year-old participant of The Telling Room’s Publishing Workshop, a program where young readers and writers take the creative lead on The Telling Room’s upcoming books as well as the annual writing contest. “When the writer began talking about how their sibling had grown to be more independent, it was very relatable…As an older sister, I felt so moved.”

“This poem tugged at me in all the ways my favorite poems do,” adds young adult author and Telling Room Teaching Artist Kathryn Williams, who was also one of the judges for the contest. “...the delicate longing and acceptance, sadness and joy of human experience crystallized for just a moment or two in imagery so particular it feels intimate but so familiar it's known by us all. I think this one will resonate deeply and widely with readers of all ages.” 

“Many of the people around me have younger siblings, and in talking to them, I found that a lot of us felt the same about our siblings growing up and becoming their own person,” says Vázquez. “It is my experience, in the sense that, it’s personal when talking about how he is growing up, but it’s a universal experience to watch someone you love grow up, and not be able to stop it.”

Prior to entering the contest, Vázquez had participated in programming with The Telling Room through an in-school residency at Brown Elementary School. Their piece was called “My Monkey,” and published in the chapbook, It Makes Me Joyful.

“We wrote a book of short stories, I wrote mine about my favorite stuffed animal,” says Vázquez. “I remember when I was handed the book at the end of the residency, I felt so proud of all my work that had been put into it.” 

Jules Vázquez, a sophomore at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science and a ballerina with Maine State Ballet, wrote “Older Sister to Younger Brother” to showcase sibling bonds. They are an active environmentalist, having co-founded a municipal initiative to plant fruit trees in their community addressing two prevalent issues; food insecurity and climate change. They are a descendant of the Taino; the people of first contact with European settlers as they made their way across the Atlantic. Vázquez’s poem will be published alongside other young authors in The Telling Room’s annual anthology, forthcoming this June.

This year in total, 350 youth ages six to eighteen entered the contest, submitting over 500 pieces of creative writing from 165 Maine cities and towns. For the first time ever, The Telling Room received multiple submissions from writers in each of Maine’s sixteen counties. To recognize the wide geographic participation in this year’s contest, we are honoring one writer from each of Maine’s sixteen counties in addition to the grand prize winner. Each county winner will also be published in the upcoming anthology, and receive a cash prize of $50.

Congratulations to our County Winners!

“The Jacket” by Alexandra Dening, age 17, of Leeds (Androscoggin)
“Losing Something You Can’t Touch” by Maggie Bell, age 14, of Caribou (Aroostook)
"Older Sister to Younger Brother" by Jules Vázquez, age 15, of South Portland
(Cumberland and Grand Prize Winner)
“Mom’s Echo” by Charlie Levesque, age 9, of Farmington (Franklin)
“Isn’t It Beautiful?” by Avalon Tate, age 13, of Otis, (Hancock) 
“Oblong Tin, Yellow Box” by Sophie Mihm, age 17, of Sidney (Kennebec)
 “My First Fish” by Sigmund Alexander, age 10, of North Haven (Knox)
“Oarlock” by Milo Popken, age 10, of South Bristol (Lincoln)
“Chains” by Abby Shedd, age 9, of Stoneham (Oxford)
“Birthday in Kyiv” by Sophia Tyutyunnyk, age 14, of Orono (Penobscot)
“Ode to Joy” by James Corbin, age 13, of Dover-Foxcroft (Piscataquis)
“The Shadow Man” by Madeline Rice, age 14, of Georgetown (Sagadahoc)
“Feel Me” by Baylee Lord, age 15, of St. Albans (Somerset)
“slipshod thoughts on a magnetized 'home'” by Willa Bywater, age 17, of Belfast (Waldo)
“The Race” by Derek Bright, age 14, of Addison (Washington)
“The Pink Pen” by Sabine D’Aran, age 14 of South Berwick (York)

"It was so exciting to receive submissions from each county, and we wanted to honor these writers who participated from all around Maine,” says Lead Teacher Jude Marx, who co-teaches The Telling Room’s Publishing Workshop, a program where young readers and writers take the creative lead on The Telling Room’s upcoming books and the annual writing contest. “Each piece chosen presents a unique voice and story, as well as stunning craft. I hope by reading these pieces we can learn from the experiences, wisdom, and brilliance of these young writers." 

“I was very surprised that I won the county award. I was also very thrilled and grateful. It meant a lot to me that my piece was chosen because of the situation in Ukraine, and because of how much my family's experience changed me,” says Sophia Tyutyunnyk, the Penobscot County winner, whose piece “Birthday in Kyiv” shares the story of visiting the circus, a bright moment during a difficult time. “We were held in Ukraine for three months in 2018, and I will never forget those 90 days. To be honest, I didn't go into this expecting to win because I've never entered my writing in a competition before, but it's wonderful to have more readers and for my work to be noticed.”

Thank you to everyone who entered this year's contest. We know that submitting one's writing is a vulnerable experience, and applaud every writer who found the courage to send their work to us.