2020 Power of the Pen Winners

List of Awardees:

Poetry

Age 12

1^st Shanzay Zia, I want to go back

2^nd Shuaib Hadi, The Furry, Little Cat

Age 13

1^st & 2^nd No entries.

Honourable Mentions: No entries

Age 14

1^st Gladys Kozyra, Where I’m From

2^nd Olivia Gringhuis, Broken Made Beautiful

Honourable Mention: Bennie, Stumbling Towards the Dark

Age 15

1^st Sarah Reid, Storm Comin’

2^nd Hailey Leslie, It’d be Cool

Age 16

1^st Michael Chen, The Walking Stick

2^nd Nour Elbadan, Susceptible Host

Age 17

1^st Ben Hemsworth, A Cog’s Life

2^nd Daisy Li, Buds

Honourable Mention: Natalie Begley, Under Thunder

Age 18

1^st Sarah VanDoodewaard, Pediatric Ward, Level 3, Room 14

2^nd Mikaela Hart, crepuscule
*Young Poet Award winner (awarded by the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature Science and Art)

Poetry (French)

1^st Natalie Begley, Les Directions

2^nd Solange Toussaint, Le cours de la vie

Honourable Mention: Jessie Kerr, La voix de vent

Short Story

Age 12

1^st Hafsah Satia, Is there no place to call home

2^nd Jonathan Middleton, Slinky Man

Age 13

1^st Alethea Hindra, It All Started With Two Words

2^nd Rachel Campbell, The Fight For Rights

Age 14

1^st Helen Lu, The Yellow Grass Field

2^nd Joshua Middleton, Soulless Music

Honourable Mentions:
Olivia Gringhuis, The List
Zoe Smith, The Pale Man
Ava Feir, When the Morning Comes

Age 15

1^st Sarah Reid, Two Squared

2^nd Sofia DiGiacomo, How To Survive The Zombie Apocalypse

Honourable Mentions:
Niky Mathioudakis, Coming Soon To A Screen Near You!
Nakeita VanderBoom, In Another’s Mind
Paul (Kyum) Lee, The Death of a Bionic
Kezia Hart, Some Say the World Will End in Fire

Age 16

1^st Jocelyn Mattka, Feather

2^nd Samantha Hounsome, The Fable of the Fox and the Woods

Honourable Mention: Vanessa Koens, A Bet with a Stranger

Age 17

1^st Rand Amer, Tales of Being Black in a White World
*Maitland Banting Silver Quill Award winner (awarded by the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature Science and Art)

2^nd Abby Ciona, Birding Legends

Age 18

1^st Sarah VanDoodewaard, The Audition

2^nd Mikaela Hart, Silene Capensis

Honourable Mention: Piper Sicard, The Skinnerman

Short Story (French)

1^st Sarah Walker, déséquilibre

2^nd Joshua Middleton, Pas seul

Honourable Mention: Ava Violet, La chevalière qui a essayé de sauver le dragon

HAALSA Young Poet's Award: Mikaela Hart, crepuscule

Honourable Mention: Gladys Kozyra, Where I’m From

Maitland Banting Silver Quill Award: Rand Amer, Tales of Being Black in a White World

Honourable Mentions:
Sarah VanDoodewaard, The Audition
Mikaela Hart, Silene Capensis

For previous years, please visit the Local History & Archives Department at the 3rd floor of the Central Library.