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Falling into the Culture of In-Between
Serena Young
11th Grade | Orlando, FLFirst Place — Being Asian never really bothered me, until the 2nd grade. From the crayon box, sharp and unused, I picked out a peach color
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Departure
Satori McCormick
12th Grade | Castle Rock, COSecond Place — Lydia had noticed that her bruises were shaped in the form of butterflies. When her husband beat her, they flew...
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The Story of the Skipping Stone
Ella Mask
12th Grade | Alpine, UTThird Place — In a town along the ocean, full of people as beaten and weary as its shore, is a girl born from the sea
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San and Bert
Jessica Wang
12th Grade, New YorkFirst Place — San lived in a strawberry. It was a large strawberry, plump with a spongy outer skin and as grand as a boulder
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All the Buttons
Eleanor Bolas
9th Grade, New YorkSecond Place — The doorbell trills, ding-ding-ding, and then the door is open and Dee is pulling me inside her apartment.
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Public Park Therapy
Rachel Samantha Rose
Freshman, University of VermontThird Place — After a full minute of laughing and wheezing James blurts, “She didn’t even get the slur right
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As They Imagine Us on Summer Nights
Kylan Tatum
12th Grade, New JerseyFirst Place — It had the makings of a quiet summer. We strapped pink wings to our shoulders and dove headfirst into blue...
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A Letter to Mama
Ciara Balanzá
11th Grade, New YorkSecond Place — Dear Mama, I find it difficult to keep track of the days without my regular routine. I no longer feed pigeons...
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Recalcitrance
Saanvi Agwarwal
12th Grade, CaliforniaThird Place — Syla’s palms were sweaty as she stared at the birch door and golden handle. Regardless of how she used the...
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Clairvoyance
Tanisha Shende
11th grade, New JerseyFirst Place — The ground is perpetually damp, the buildings creak, and the sun seems more like a hole forced into the sky...