Finalists Selected for 2014 Gaithersburg Book Festival High School Student Short Story Contest

Judges have selected 11 finalists from a pool of more than 150 entries for the Gaithersburg Book Festival’s fourth annual High School Student Short Story Contest.

The first-, second- and third-place winners, along with a fan favorite, will be announced on May 17 at the Festival, which is held on the grounds of City Hall in Gaithersburg, Md. Winners will receive $100, $50 and $25 gift certificates, respectively. The prizes are provided by the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus.

The winning stories will be selected by Jon Methven, author of “This Is Your Captain Speaking,” who was a featured author at the 2013 Gaithersburg Book Festival and this year will lead a conversation with Anna Holmes, editor of “The Book of Jezebel” and founder of the popular website Jezebel.com. Methven also provided the three opening lines from which students had to choose when writing their stories.

“The short story contest for high school students has become a very vibrant element of the Festival,” said Jud Ashman, Festival chair and City of Gaithersburg Council Member. “We love being able to engage with and encourage tomorrow’s authors through this contest, and we were pleased to see such increasing participation from Virginia schools.”

The 11 finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

• Katherine Brown – Woodbridge High School, grade 10, Prince William County, Va.
• Nazrin Garibova – Oakton High School, grade 10, Fairfax County, Va.
• Katie Holcomb – Oakton High School, grade 10, Fairfax County, Va.
• Elena Meyer – home school, grade 11, Prince William County, Va.
• Erik Park – Oakton High School, grade 12, Fairfax County, Va.
• Allan Phillips – Oakton High School, grade 10, Fairfax County, Va.
• Carmen Pickard – Osbourn Park High School, grade 11, Prince William County, Va.
• Morgan Smalley – Osbourn Park High School, grade 11, Prince William County, Va.
• Alex Twery – Westminster High School, grade 11, Carroll County, Md.
• Rachael Ward – Broadneck High School, grade 9, Anne Arundel County, Md.
• Maggie Zeile – Oakton High School, grade 10, Fairfax County, Va.

Entrants included public, private, and homeschooled students from 11 jurisdictions throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Jurisdictions included the Maryland counties of Anne Arundel, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s; and the Virginia counties of Albemarle, Fairfax and Prince William, and the City of Fredericksburg.

The finalists’ stories have been posted to the Gaithersburg Book Festival website at https://gaithersburgbookfestival.org/gbf-programs/short-story-entries. Visitors are encouraged to go read the stories and “like” their favorite stories to help determine the “Fan Favorite” entry.