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Writing Faire awards announced

The 15th annual Jim Thrower Rotary Writing Faire awards, on May 2, honored 62 young middle school authors from throughout Sonoma Valley. Students read a portion of their pieces to family members, teachers and friends. Natalie Baker and Max Shepard, eighth grade students from Adele Harrison, were master and mistress of ceremonies, introducing winners and their genre titles, that included biography, poetry, persuasive essay and more. Entries were judged by local authors Andy Weinberger, Pam Gibson, Lindsay Whiting and Tami Casias, who read hundreds of submissions before making their final choices. Organizers Kathy Eschleman, Cathy Wedell and Colleen Hamilton thanked the support provided by Sonoma Flowers, Readers’ Books, Safeway and The Lodge at Sonoma. The Sonoma Valley Rotary has sponsored the Writing Faire since its inception. The winners (by category) are: fiction: Sofia Williams; persuasive: Maddy Libbey; sports editorial: Liam Hurley; descriptive: Max Shepard; letters to the editor: Toby Hillard; iMovie: Parker Bacon; non-fiction: Katherin Pencil; first-hand biography: Cian Martin; original song: Trevor Hernando and Campbell Martin; poetry serious: Emma Caballero; poetry humorous: Jenny Nova and Gabriel Vanzant; comic: Julio Gutierrez; personal narrative: Jane Coneybeer; response to literature: Julien Segre; and book/movie review: Anna DeSmet. The middle school students were honored at the 2012 Jim Thrower Rotary Writing Faire on May 2 at the Lodge.