Awards Made in State Competition
06/04/2009
HARTFORD-A home-schooled student from Redding and a student from the private Westover School in Middlebury were awarded the top statewide prizes in prose and poetry last Sunday night in the 12th annual IMPAC-Connecticut State University System Young Writers competition.
Emma Lowenberg, 16, of the Lowenberg Home School in Redding, won for her story, "Bernard." Felicity Sheehy, 16, of Westover School of Middlebury, won for her poem, "Evening Conversation."
At the awards celebration held at The Mark Twain House &Museum, both students received $1,000 for their efforts. Miss Lowenberg and Miss Sheehy also were awarded $500 in April after being named, respectively, prose and poetry winners in Fairfield and New Haven counties.
Miss Lowenberg is the first home schooled county and state champion in the program's 12-year history. A number of home schooled writers have been county finalists over the years.
Miss Lowenberg's and Miss Sheehy's works will be considered for publication in Connecticut Review, the nationally-renowned literary journal published by the Connecticut State University System (CSUS).
The co-masters of ceremonies at Twain House were Rand Richards Cooper, the novelist and travel writer for Bon Appetit, Diane Smith, CPTV host and author, Colin McEnroe, The Hartford Courant columnist and author, and Ravi Shankar, professor and poet-in-residence at Central Connecticut State University. They all serve as judges for the program.
The 16 county state finalists were treated to tours of The Mark Twain House &Museum, a program on Twain and more. Reception entertainment was by the Jen Allen Big Band, and catering by Frank Rosa's La Cupola Ristorante of Litchfield.
The program has given more than $176,000 to teenagers since 1998.
The poetry county champions included Kevin Redmond, 17, of Torrington High School, for his poem, "The Cold Stare Of Infinity," and the prose county champions included Clarissa Burch, 15, of New Milford High School, for her story, "Missing You."
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