LSUS hosts first high school creative writing contest

LSUS hosts first high school creative writing contest

SHREVEPORT - More than 220 creative writing submissions were turned in for the first-ever LSU Shreveport creative writing contest, and the university honored 30 finalists at an awards ceremony Friday.

Local author Ashley Elston, who wrote New York Times bestsellers "First Lie Wins" and "Anatomy of an Alibi," judged the 30 finalists, selecting the top three in short fiction and poetry categories.

Riley Greber won the short fiction category with "Passenger 82." Mackenzie McDonald's "Hide or Speak" and Sadel Zeidan's "The Mirror that Breathes" placed second and third, respectively.

Madilyn Morris took home the poetry top honor with "No Reason There's a One Star Review." Ava Osbon's "No" and Krispy Rodriguez's "I carry my home with me" finished second and third, respectively.

An emergency unfortunately prevented Elston from attending Friday's ceremony, but she passed along a note that said she was "blown away by the talent" of North Louisiana and East Texas high school writers.

LSUS Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith, a mathematician by trade who's written 10 calculus textbooks, told the audience that a creative writing class he took built a foundation for deciding to pursue authoring math texts.

"I learned critical thinking skills in creative writing class that helped in writing those textbooks," Smith said. "Thirty years ago, math books were badly written and intended for professors, not students.

"But my co-author and I decided to use stories to illustrate concepts and to make those texts student-focused. Those creative writing skills were crucial, and I encourage all of you to continue to follow your creativity as it will be beneficial in whatever field you decide to pursue."

Smith added that creativity is even more important in the artificial intelligence age.

Dr. Sam Cannon, associate professor of Spanish at LSUS, said he went from drawing "doodles in Keithville" to traveling across the country and the western hemisphere for Comic-Con as a graphic novels academic.

Cannon helped bring prominent Chilean comic books to the American market and works with Chile's government to promote and develop more of its country's stories and artists.

"Creative thinkers and writers think a lot about a world that's different than ours, and in creativity there are solutions for our actual world," said Cannon, also a science fiction buff. "There's benefit in studying both the illusion and the reality.

"To all the writers who participated, keep giving us something to dream about. Illusion has much to teach us about how reality can improve."

The creative writing competition is the first of what organizers in the University's Department of English and Foreign Languages aim to make an annual event among regional high schoolers.

Cannon added that the students' creativity has a home at LSUS, referencing the publication "Spectra," a student-written and edited volume of prose, poetry and art.

"Spectra" has published for more than five decades on campus.