Congratulations to all the youth honoured on January 18th with awards for their winning submissions in Hamilton’s 2012 Power of the Pen competition. Now in its 18th year, the contest is sponsored by our Hamilton Public Library and the Hamilton Spectator. Winning short fiction and poetry written by 12 to 18 year-olds is showcased at the annual awards event (this year the judges, all local writers, had to choose from among some 300 entries).
Corrie McIntyre, winner in the 16-year old short fiction category, and Teresa Nguyen, winner in the 14-year old poetry category, were standouts for me. Look for their entries among the winning selections – to be published online by Hamilton Public Library soon.
It takes courage to enter such a competition, and even more to stand among your peers to read a winning entry to a live audience. We have some inspiring and creative young people in this community, and it was wonderful to see some of them honoured and recognized. Hopefully the awards serve to encourage these budding writers to further hone their craft and go on to excel further. Their voices are a valuable part of our city’s artistic expression and, we can hope, its literary future.
EnMark Associates 
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