The second annual Mirabella Prose and Poetry Contest
held March 22nd at St. Anne’s Belfield
was a wonderful tribute to teen writers in Central Virginia.
A record 166 submissions were eagerly read by our
student editorial staff, who selected and organized
submissions and the manuscript for our
Crossroads VII anthology.
Enormous thanks to St. Anne’s Belfield
for hosting and catering the event, and
for believing in the worth of creative writing
in sponsoring the $500 Mirabella Prize,
named after a beloved English teacher.
We are grateful for our judges,
author Proal Heartwell of The Village School
who blindly selected ten finalists,
and Professor Camille Dungy of Colorado State University,
who blindy chose our finalist Baylina Pu, for Cicadas
and semi-finalist:
Meridith Frazee, for Snow Night on the Dead End
None of our work would be possible without
our student staff, our amazing Creative Writing
teachers at every single high school,
in particular Charlotte Wood at AHS
and Rosanne Simeone at STAB.
The hard work of taking our student-edited manuscript
and turning it into a book is proof of the magic
of book designer Max March, who has created
a masterpiece again, including a new round of
printers ornaments which we will explain in
subsequent posts, beginning April 17th!
Congratulations to all winners, and for all the students who trusted us with their work!