For students passionate about writing, Amador Writers Ensemble is hosting a Tri-Valley Writing Competition open to all high school students in the area from Feb. 8 to April 5. 

“We wanted to host this competition to incentivize and promote creative writing to the student body. We hope that both our club members and other high school students in the Tri-Valley can explore their own growth through submitting their coming of age stories to our local writing competition,” said Arlina Yang (‘23), AWE co-president.

This year’s topic explores the theme of coming of age.

“We came up with this theme because of the pandemic,” said Tho Nguyen (‘23), AWE co-president. “Growing up amidst COVID-19 has had such a significant impact on our lives. Everyone, in one way or another, came of age during the pandemic, and we want to hear their stories.” 

The AWE club, started in 2019, is dedicated to promoting a creative writing community on the school campus by hosting activities such as learning workshops, writing prompts, and writing competitions like these.

“There’s a common misconception about writing — that you need to be good to start, or that your writing isn’t good enough to merit trying. We hope that participating in this competition will inspire [members] to continue writing,” said Nguyen. 

For students interested in participating, they should submit their works to the following link or check out the club’s Instagram @amadorwritersensemble. 

“This is an opportunity to share [my] work and receive friendly, constructive feedback. It’s also very rewarding knowing that others can enjoy and even possibly relate to [my] work,” said member Diana Schwarz (‘24).