Another year of success at PenOhio
After months of preparing, the Creative Writing Team competed in the PenOhio Tournament for the fourth year in a row. Varsity placed fourth in the team division and Junior, Cori Slaw, placed sixth in the individual division.
The competition is one where writers display their skills and compete against other schools in northeast Ohio, each with six students on a Junior Varsity team and six on a Varsity team. Writers have forty minutes in each of the three rounds to create a short story to wow the judges. Aurora student, Cori Slaw, won over the judges and placed sixth in the individual division out of seventy other writers. The previous year, Slaw placed third.
After another incredible competition, Slaw reflects on her fondest memories from prior tournaments. “It's always great talking to other writers as passionate (and going through the same nervousness of competing!) as you are. It's fun to ask what other people wrote about for the same prompt that you just wrote to, and find out how they interpreted it differently. Sometimes people talk about their own past experiences, like someone once said they'd had a prompt that told them to write in a Dr. Seuss style. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm determined to!”
Writing stories, much less in forty minutes, takes dedication and passion. Slaw has all of these qualities since books have been an integral part of her life.
Slaw said, “Reading is my all-time favorite thing to do, and I'm always dreaming of writing stories that will make someone else feel the way I feel while reading great books. Writing to timed prompts is a great way to practice my writing skills, challenge myself, and get inspired!”
The prompts given at PenOhio offer competitors inspiration and a challenge, at the same time giving them the freedom to write any genre they choose. It can be a realistic recount of a teenager’s life or be a detailed dystopian society.
For Slaw, she says, “My favorite thing to write about is relationships. I find friendship, family, and romance the most engaging. I also like to include some type of anxiety or overthinking, which probably stems from some of my own abundant thoughts! And although my favorite thing to read is science fiction, it feels most natural for me to write realistic fiction.”
The competitors at PenOhio are more than people who consider writing a “hobby”--the assembled students are aspiring authors and poets.
“I absolutely want to write in the future! I'm still deciding if I want to major or minor in creative writing in college, but I definitely want it to be a big part of my college experience. And as for the distant future, I'd love to publish books. I don't think I'm going to become a full-time writer, but you never know. There might be a twist,” said Slaw.
Sometimes writers don’t get the same recognition as musicians, actors and athletes. The PenOhio tournament is a great opportunity for writers, like Slaw, to receive recognition for their talents and hard work. The Creative Writing Team is sure to succeed at PenOhio for years to come.
