About this community project
The Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum are proud to present the winners of the 2022 Storytelling Contest. The six winners, who earned cash prizes at a reception in December at the Little Washington Theatre, were selected by an independent panel of judges who evaluated each submission without knowledge of the contestants’ name, grade or school. An ambitious evolution of the “essay contest” conducted in years past, last year’s storytelling contest was expanded to encourage students to tell narratives in mediums beyond the written word. It was also broadened to accept submissions from students at each of our county’s five schools: Rappahannock County Middle and High Schools, Hearthstone School, Belle Meade Montessori School and Wakefield Country Day School. Home-school students were also invited to submit work.
Students told stories in response to one of six prompts in the form of essays, poems, music, videos, artwork and dialogues:
► You have a magic wand and can fix any problem in the world. What would you do and what would change?
► Profile someone in our Rappahannock community (NOT including any family members or teachers).
► Describe a time you made a very di cult decision. What was the result?
► What was your worst day ever?
► Tell about a time when you or someone you know displayed great courage.
► It’s the year 2072. What does Rappahannock County look like?
We are also delighted to recognize the eight students whose work received honorable mentions:
Owen Kazmier, McKenna Vaughn, Will Wofford, Aeo Cheng, Kaidan Thomas, Arielle Shepard, Gabrielle Moreno and Arella Nagle. Their submissions will be published online at Rappnews.com this week.
We additionally want to acknowledge the other students who participated:
Hugh Garner, Gabriel McArthur, Landon Theis, Lilyanne Newton, Serabella Coleman, Madelyn Sneed, Madelyn Sneed, Nona Gregg, Lilly Vargas, Mariel Scoville, Adriana Howard, Olivia Korte, Emily Diehl, Katherine Johnson, Kayleigh Beaty, Levi Clemmer, Lina Purnell, Lotus Lowe, Luci Esposito, Maddie Addeo, Mia Blank, Riley Garrido, Samantha Thomas, Sarah Johnson, Zachary Martz, Amirina-Gene McArthur, Tana Brady, Julianna Butler, Alexander Bailey, Mary Sargent, Connor Janeski, Ines Blas, Nicolas Vargas, Leander Gemino, Ella Clemmer.
Rappahannock County harbors enormous talent. Thank you also to the teachers and leaders at all of our schools.