Category Archives: Youth Ink

2025 Theme: The Capes We Wear

We are pleased to announce the YouthInk 2025 writing contest launches on December 16, 2024!  The YouthInk writing contest was created to support the literary arts among young people in the Orinda community. YouthInk is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who live in Orinda or attend an Orinda school.

Entries must be a story (fiction or non-fiction), poem, or other creative writing form; presented in English, and written specifically for the contest and without teacher or parent involvement. Length must be 750 words or less. Submissions will be evaluated on content, clarity, structure, and originality.

Prompt

The writing prompt for 2025 is The Capes We Wear; however, you may write about anything you like—real or imaginary—adhere to the prompt or not! There is no limit to your imagination.

Entry

Contest opens December 16, 2024, and closes on February 9, 2025.

Click here for the YouthInk 2025 entry form.

Entries will only be accepted via the entry form or email to oyouthink@gmail.com with the following:

• Completed entry form. Make sure to include all required information in your submission.
• Please share your document in Word, PDF, or Google doc, with the name of your piece as the title. Please do not put your name on the document.
• Your name will go on the entry form that you submit with the document.

Once you have submitted your entry, you will receive a receipt notification from oyouthink@gmail.com to confirm your entry was successfully submitted.

The entries will be judged by a panel of local, professional, and bestselling authors, writers, reporters, and children’s book editors.

Prizes

First Place $250, Second Place $125, and Third Place $75, and ten honorable mentions gift certificates. Winners will be notified by mail and receive their prizes at an Awards Ceremony on May 8, 2025. The ceremony is open to the public and all family and friends are invited.

Contest Sponsors

The contest is organized and run by the Orinda Junior Women’s Club, with additional financial sponsorship provided by Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council, and Orinda Community Foundation.

We are pleased to announce the YouthInk 2024 writing contest launches on December 15, 2023!  The YouthInk writing contest was created to support the literary arts among young people in the Orinda community. YouthInk is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who live in Orinda or attend an Orinda school.

Entries must be a story (fiction or non-fiction), poem, or other creative writing form; presented in English, and written specifically for the contest and without teacher or parent involvement. Length must be 750 words or less. Submissions will be evaluated on content, clarity, structure, and originality.

Prompt

The writing prompt for 2024 is Roots; however, you may write about anything you like—real or imaginary—adhere to the prompt or not! There is no limit to your imagination.

To Enter

Contest opens December 15, 2023, and closes on February 19, 2024.

Download a YouthInk 2024 entry form.

Entries will only be accepted via email. Email your entry to oyouthink@gmail.com with the following:

• Completed entry form. Make sure to include all required information in your submission.
• Share as a Google doc with the name of your piece as the title. Please do not put your name on the document.
• Your name will go on the entry form that you submit with the document.

Once you have submitted your entry, you will receive a receipt notification from oyouthink@gmail.com to confirm your entry was successfully submitted.

Prizes

First Place $250, Second Place $125, and Third Place $75, and ten honorable mentions gift certificates. Winners will be notified by mail and receive their prizes at an Awards Ceremony on May 2, 2024. The ceremony is open to the public and all family and friends are invited.

Contest Sponsors

The contest is organized and run by the Orinda Junior Women’s Club, with additional financial sponsorship provided by Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council, and Orinda Community Foundation.

We are pleased to announce Youth Ink 2023 writing contest launches on December 12, 2022!  The Youth Ink writing contest was created to support the literary arts among young people in the Orinda community, Youth Ink is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who live in Orinda or attend an Orinda school.

Entries must be a story (fiction or non-fiction), poem, or other creative writing form; presented in English, and written specifically for the contest and without teacher or parent involvement. Entries must be 750 words or less. Submissions will be evaluated on content, clarity, structure, and originality.

Prompt

The writing prompt for 2023 is Strength; however, you may write about anything you like—real or imaginary—adhere to the prompt or not! There is no limit to your imagination.

To Enter

Contest opens December 12, 2022, and closes on March 5, 2023.

Download a Youth Ink 2023 entry form.

Entries will only be accepted via email. Email your entry to oyouthink@gmail.com with the following:

• Completed entry form. Make sure to include all required information in your submission.
• Share as a Google doc with the name of your piece as the title. Please do not put your name on the document. Your name will go on the entry form that you submit with the document.

Once you have submitted your entry, you will receive a receipt notification from oyouthink@gmail.com to confirm your entry was successfully submitted.

Prizes

First Place $250, Second Place $125, and Third Place $75, and ten honorable mentions gift certificates. Winners will be notified by mail and receive their prizes in May.

Contest Sponsors

The contest is organized and run by the Orinda Junior Women’s Club, with additional financial sponsorship provided by Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council, and Orinda Community Foundation.

We are pleased to announce Youth Ink 2022 writing contest launches on December 13, 2021!  The Youth Ink writing contest was created to support the literary arts among young people in the Orinda community, Youth Ink is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who live in Orinda or attend an Orinda school.

Entries must be a story (fiction or non-fiction), poem, or other creative writing form; presented in English, and written specifically for the contest and without teacher or parent involvement. Entries must be 750 words or less. Submissions will be evaluated on content, clarity, structure, and originality.

Prompt

The writing prompt for 2022 is Glass Half Full; however, you may write about anything you like—real or imaginary—adhere to the prompt or not! There is no limit to your imagination.

To Enter

Contest opens December 13, 2021, and closes on March 6, 2022.

Download a Youth Ink 2022 entry form.

Entries will only be accepted via email. Email your entry to oyouthink@gmail.com with the following:

• Completed entry form. Make sure to include all required information in your submission.
• Share as a Google doc with the name of your piece as the title. Please do not put your name on the document. Your name will go on the entry form that you submit with the document.

Once you have submitted your entry, you will receive a receipt notification from oyouthink@gmail.com to confirm your entry was successfully submitted.

Prizes

First Place $250, Second Place $125, and Third Place $75, and ten honorable mentions gift certificates. Winners will be notified by mail and receive their prizes in May.

Contest Sponsors

The contest is organized and run by the Orinda Junior Women’s Club, with additional financial sponsorship provided by Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council, and Orinda Community Foundation.

The Orinda Junior Women’s Club is pleased to announce 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. This year’s prompt was Hope, though entrants were welcomed to write on the theme of their choice. We are pleased to announce this year’s top prize winners:

1st Place: Emma Wong, Symphony in 2020

2nd Place: Audrey Kosla, The Box

3rd Place: Laurel Reader-Taatjes, Stargazer: A Tribute to My Far Away Family

In addition, we’d like to acknowledge the honorable mentions for their commendable entries (in alphabetical order):

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

Jila Sponzilli, Flight for Hope

Read the winning entries!

We enjoyed a socially distanced awards ceremony at the Orinda Park, with guest speaker N.H. Senzai, is the author of award winning Shooting Kabul. We thank all of our entrants for sharing their talents with us.  We are also very thankful to our Youth Ink volunteer judges, who thoughtfully provided time and expertise in reading each entry and contemplating this year’s winners among a stellar pool of entries. This year’s judges were Maya Shweiky,  Alina Dyndikova, Imran Ali Malik, Kathryn Turner, and Marcy Stoeven.

Lastly, we’d like to thank our community sponsors who have enabled the Orinda Junior Women’s Club to offer this year’s Youth Ink writing contest to Orinda middle schoolers with their financial support: Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council and Orinda Community Foundation.

 

The Orinda Junior Women’s Club is pleased to announce the winners of Youth Ink 2020, the annual creative writing contest open to all middle school students who live in or attend school in Orinda. This year’s prompt was The Gift, though entrants were welcomed to write on the theme of their choice. We are pleased to announce this year’s top three prize winners:

1st Place: Kaylin Chang, Bright as the Sun

2nd Place: Emma Wong, Jin’s Gift

3rd Place: Holly Carysforth, East

In addition, we’d like to acknowledge the honorable mentions for their commendable entries:

Carson Blair                    The Gift

Kaia Bonham                  Bea

Josslyn Grover                Song of Life

Pateel Haroupian          The Monarch Butterflies Plead for Our Help

Indie Lee                         A Well of Memories

Jewel Mendiola              The Gift

Hana Shukairy                The Everlasting Break

Elise Vansant                  Four Words

Jason Wagner                 The Gift of Immigrants

Jialei Zhang                     Home at Last

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place recipients received cash prizes of $250, $125, and $75, respectively.   The Honorable Mention recipients received gift certificates to our local Orinda Books.

While we usually celebrate Youth Ink writers at a springtime awards ceremony, given the circumstances of our global pandemic, we were unable to meet in person this year.  We thank all of our entrants for sharing their talents with us.  We are also very thankful to our Youth Ink volunteer judges, who thoughtfully provided time and expertise in reading each entry and contemplating this year’s winners among a stellar pool of entries. This year’s judges were Sally Bolger, Cynthia Leslie-Bole, Michelle Meyers and Colleen Weems.

Lastly, we’d like to thank our community sponsors who have enabled the Orinda Junior Women’s Club to offer this year’s Youth Ink writing contest to Orinda middle schoolers with their financial support: Friends of the Orinda Library, The Intuitive Writing Project, Lamorinda Arts Council and Orinda Community Foundation.

 

Congratulations to all of the winners of the 2019 YouthInk writing contest! This year, over 40 Orinda middle school students submitted entries inspired by the writing prompt “It Matters.” We are proud to announce the winners of contest for 2019:

2019 WINNERS

First Place ($250): 
Eloise Anagnost, The Girl in the Box

Second Place ($125): 
Holly Carysforth, Free?

Third Place ($75): 
Kirsten Parker, Hidden

Honorable Mention: (alphabetical order)

Mia Balonick, The Highway

Kaylin Chang, The Power of Words

Audrey Dugan, Safe

Josslyn Grover, Flying Free

Indie Lee, Onwards

Tahra Minowada, The Sound of Nothing

Jade Peng, Paper Promises

Chiara Sponzilli, Everything In This World Matters

Hazel Weiner, The Way Things Used to Be

Jialei Zhang, Playing It By Heart