Orinda Juniors Youth Ink Winners

    The Orinda Junior Women’s Club (OJWC) announced the winners of “Youth Ink 2021,” the annual creative writing contest open to all middle school students who live in or attend school in Orinda.
    Emma Wong’s “Symphony in 2020” won first prize of $250. Audrey Kosla (“The Box”) and Laurel Reader-Taatjes (“Stargazer: A Tribute to My Far Away Family”) won the second and third prizes of $125 and $75 respectively.
    This year’s prompt was Hope, though entrants could also select their own theme.
    The OJWC acknowledged honorable mention entries, who received gift certificates to Orinda Books: Reese Akel (“Days, Upon Days, Upon Days”); Rory Gaarder-Wang (“The Mystery Machine”); Penelope Claire Gall (“If We Don’t Act Soon”); Josslyn Grover (“Seed of Hope”); EJ Ho (“Dr. Andrew Blunk and the Yeti Discovery”); Alexa Jardine (“Mia’s Christmas Hope”); Nura Mohiuddin (“The Key”); Amanda Roach (“Our Resilient Nation”); Hana Shukairy (“Burning Question”); and Jila Sponzilli (“Flight for Hope”).
    The OJWC thanked all entrants and their Youth Ink volunteer judges, Alina Dyndikova, Imran Ali Malik, Maya Shweiky, Marcy Stoeven and Kathryn Turner as well as community sponsors Friends of the Orinda Library, the Orinda Community Foundation, The Intuitive Writing Project and the Lamorinda Arts Council.