I was asked to be a judge in this year’s George Putz Memorial Writing Contest with the Shawano school district.
What a thrill it was to read the work of these young people! I judged non-fiction entries in grades 1-12 in different age categories, so the younger students were competing with the older ones and I was very happy to see them put their work out there. It is not easy to have your words (and art!) judged, and any time you “put it out there” you do just that, but especially when you’re competing with others.
Really, I thought they were all great. It reminded me of my childhood when I entered a nonfiction contest also (in 2nd grade! hello!) and won. Mine was a writing and art contest. (Kind of a preview of today’s life, right?) I think we are all creative and these early times when we are brave and put our creativity out into the world to be judged can help shape our confidence going forward. I applaud every student who did that. Bravo!
