From staff reports

The Friends of the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library has announced the winners of its annual creative writing contest. Awards were given at an April 13 ceremony. The winners:

Category I: Fifth- and sixth-grade prose

* First place — “Disco Doug” by Lisa Claire Jones, Beechwood Elementary School, fifth grade.

* Second place — “The Boy and His Alien” by Erica S. Tindoll, Beechwood Elementary, fifth grade.

* Honorable mention — “Rico’s Quest” by Edward Auttonberry, Agape Montessori Learning Center, fifth grade.

Category II: Seventh-ninth-grade prose

* First place — “Sight” by Kelly Gatewood, Vicksburg High School, ninth grade.

* Second place — “My Best Friend” by Dianna Kariuki, Vicksburg High, ninth grade.

Category III: 10th-12th-grade prose

* First place — “A Walk in the Woods” by Nathan Davis, Vicksburg High, 11th grade.

* Second  place — “Wally S. Pitt” by Donald Brown, Vicksburg High, 11th grade.

* Honorable mention — “Not Enough Time” by Devvion Andrews, Warren Central High School, 12th grade; and “Sisters of the Broken Rune” by Nicholas Mason, St. Aloysius High School, 12th grade.

Category IV: Fifth-sixth-grade poetry

* First place — “My Dogs” by Beth Newman, St. Francis Xavier Elementary School, sixth grade.

* Second place — “Friends” by Cameron Curtis, St. Francis Xavier, sixth grade.

* Honorable mention — “Bird” by Brittany Hayes, St. Francis Xavier, sixth grade; “Best Friends” by Kaylae Hartley, Beechwood Elementary, sixth grade; “Moon” by Drake Dorbeck, St. Francis Xavier, sixth grade; “My Cat” by Keontae Buck, Beechwood Elementary, sixth grade; and “Spring” by Taylor Lee, St. Francis Xavier, sixth grade.   

Category V: Seventh-ninth-grade poetry

* First place — “Uncut from the Back of My Mind” by Levi Branch, Warren Central High, ninth grade.

* Second place — “At This Point, Powerless” by Madelyn Briggs, Vicksburg High, ninth grade.

* Honorable mention — “Serene” by Kiara I. Wilson, Vicksburg High, ninth grade; “My Jigsaw Puzzle” by Haley Ray, Vicksburg High, ninth grade; and “Mississippi (past, present, future) for Blacks” by Ishmael Baldwin, Warren Central High, ninth grade.

Category VI: 10th-12th-grade poetry

* First place — “A Leaders’ Dream” by Michael Whittaker, Vicksburg High, 10th grade.

* Second place — “To My Role Model” by Kyle Rigsby, Vicksburg High, 12th grade.

* Honorable mention — “Why” by Jaron Smith, Vicksburg High, 11th grade; “God’s Unconditional Love” by Donald Brown, Vicksburg High, 11th grade; “The Road Decided” by Michael Whittaker, Vicksburg High, 10th grade; “An Angel at His Doorstep” by Nicholas Mason, St. Aloysius High, 12th grade; and “From Gethsemane to Golgotha” by Donald Brown, Vicksburg High, 11th grade.