Write Rhode Island Awards Two Quest Montessori Middle School Students in Annual Writing Competition

School One and Goat Hill award winners of “Write Rhode Island” short fiction writing competition

Quest Montessori School is honored to have two students recognized in this year's Write Rhode Island writing competition presented by School One and Goat Hill of Providence. The short story writing competition received 137 submissions from students in grades 7-12 across Rhode Island and judges are tasked with choosing ten pieces from each grade level, 7-9 and 10-12 to award the State Winners and Notable Mentions. The goal of Write Rhode Island is to promote and celebrate the works of students by incorporating Rhode Island as a theme in a creative piece of prose. Eight students submitted work this year with the support of Quest's humanities teacher, Auburn Cole. This is the third consecutive year Quest's innovative Middle School program has had students awarded for their short story work.

Earlier this week Quest welcomed members of the judging panel, writers Hester Kaplan and Taylor Polites of Goat Hill and Diane Champa from School One, to surprise students and present the awards. Seventh grade student, Annabel Rarick, was recognized as a state winner for her story, Different Ways to Drown and her peer, eighth grader Delia Tanzi Buchbaum received a Notable Mention for her story Forgiveness. This is the second year that Ms. Tanzi-Buchbaum has received this distinction. A small ceremony will be held at Newport Art Museum to recognize the twenty students in grades 7-12 whose work was selected as winning entries of Rhode Island’s only short fiction writing competition for students.

Diana DeCesaris Champa, Director of Literary Engagement at School One, is also the competition’s coordinator. “It’s very exciting to provide an audience and a way to connect students with writing outside the classroom,” said Champa. “The opportunity to be published can be inspiring, and it gives students another reason to work at rewriting, editing and polishing their work. Last year, teachers reached out to thank us for providing this type of writing opportunity outside the classroom for students. This year, we received more than 130 submissions and we’re thrilled.”

Goat Hill is a collaboration between Rhode Island authors Ann Hood, Hester Kaplan, and Taylor Polites, offers literary events, workshops and seminars to cultivate a writing community in Southern New England. Each year Goat Hill selects the winning entries that are published in the Write Rhode Island anthology, a unique high quality print publication. Last year, Goat Hill invited singer-songwriter-author Bill Harley, master storyteller Len Cabral and Young Adult author Katie Cotugno to help select the top middle school stories.

When asked about the judging process, Goat Hill said, “We are impressed every year by the passion and imagination the young writers of our state bring to the stories they tell, and we are thrilled to honor their work and creative spirit through Write Rhode Island. But we don't do it alone--over forty volunteer readers helped us judge the stories along with the three great new judges for the 7th-9th grade stories, making the entire program an act of statewide writing community."

Write Rhode Island has been made possible thanks to support from BankRI, Pawtucket Credit Union, Rhode Island Department of Education, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, City of Providence, What Cheer Writers Club and teachers, librarians, and educators from around the state.