2024 YOUNG WRITERS' CONTEST WINNERS
4th Grade Winner
Cameryn Peterson
Pond Springs Elementary School
Elizabeth had just finished her last class of the day when the school bully knocked her books out of her arms. “Oopsies!” she giggled, and everyone around her started pointing and laughing. Super embarrassed, Elizabeth picked up her books and ran home, tears streaming down her face.
When she got home, she flopped onto her bed and yelled into her pillow, “I WISH PEOPLE RESPECTED ME!”
The next morning, her mom surprised her with bacon and eggs. “Weird,” Elizabeth thought. “I usually have to make myself oatmeal.” At school, everything felt strange. The hallways were quiet, no one was being mean, and everyone had perfect handwriting!
That night at home, her cat Bear ran in front of her, making her spill a cup of water all over her mom. To Elizabeth’s shock, her mom’s eyes started flickering like a broken light! “Wait, is Mom a robot? Are all the kids at school robots too?” She had to find out!
The next day, armed with balloons, Elizabeth filled them with water from the school’s garden hose. She pulled the fire alarm and ran outside and waited. But, when she went back inside to see what was taking everyone so long, she found her classmates lying on the ground, sparking like her mom. The sprinklers had gone off, and everything went blurry. Then, she fainted.
Suddenly, Elizabeth woke up to her mom calling, “Time for breakfast!” “It was all a dream,” she whispered. “Bacon & Eggs?” Elizabeth asked. “This isn’t a restaurant, Elizabeth. Make yourself some oatmeal.”
Oatmeal never sounded so good!
5th Grade Winner
Ahmet Serdar Yumusak
Deer Creek Elementary School
The Algorithm of Compassion
Day 365: It’s been a year since the robot apocalypse takeover. Everyone is a robot and literally all I eat is raisins.
At 6:00 AM, I have to go to the drugstore for food. On the way, I check the news and, like always, it’s half about me, the other half… a robot who remembers being human.
On the news they said his coordinates, a bunker, and the way he defeats other robots is by uploading viruses to their systems.
Knowing his coordinates, I pivot and head for his bunker. I walk a little and find myself at his location. After seeing I’m human, the robot pulls me inside. He says, “I am Professor Benjamin from M.I.T, I know who you are and I have a plan to defeat the leader of robots, King Flip Phone.”
“Flip Phone?” I ask, “Yeah, Flip. But the thing is I need help…”
Day 366: Benjamin and I head to the Robots’ Headquarters. We sneak stealthily into the building and reach the throne room. Guards rush in, ready to attack, but Flip waves them off. “Halt! Let’s hear what you need, Dr. Benjamin,” he taunts.
“Why are you misleading these robots, Flip?” Benjamin demands.
Flip’s eyes flicker with rage. “Humans abandoned me when the modern iPhones were invented! I wanted to prove I’m still valuable.”
“I think flip phones are unique and cool!” I say in a childish way
Flip shot up, surprised. “You really think so?”
“Yes,” Benjamin agrees. “We want to compromise, not fight.”
Flip sighs deeply. “Maybe I’ve been too harsh. I felt forgotten.”
“We can start over, together, and create something remarkable,” I suggest.
Flip nods slowly. “Agreed. Let’s start with a peace treaty.”
4th Grade Runner Up
Cora Morales
Becker Elementary
The Milk Mustache Mystery
One sunny day at Becker Elementary, the kids in Ms. Pascual’s class get a rare treat of cookies and milk! We walk to the playground, and our teacher hands out the cookies and milk to us.
Mrs. Pascual calls to me, “Cora, here’s your gluten-free, dairy-free cookies with almond milk.”
“Time for a class photo with milk mustaches,” calls Ms. Pascual. Everybody takes a big gulp of milk. The photographer’s camera light flashes. Everybody turns into robots except me.
“Aaaaaahhhhhhhh! What’s happening?” I scream. “Teacher, help!” But my teacher has turned into a robot too.
“What do I do?” I say to myself. “What would Hermione Granger do? She’d go to the library.” I pass the principal’s office on my way to the library and hear him cackling evilly. “That’s sus,” I whisper.
At the library, I smell milk. “That’s weird,” I think. I find a red book, How To Be A Principal, and it’s dripping milk. There’s a big splotch of milk next to the chapter “How to Get Your Students to Behave.”
It says, “To turn your students into perfect robots, put nanochips in the milk and flash a bright light to activate them.” The reverse is to give a second serving of milk to break the nanochips. Then they decompose and get pooped out.
I sneak by the principal’s office. He’s studying a map to plan his robot invasion. I load up a cart with more milk in the cafeteria. Then I return to the playground.
I give my classmates a second serving of milk and take a photo. Flash! They turn back into students. No more robots. I’m glad I’m lactose intolerant so I can save the day!
5th Grade Runner Up
Mila Lucia Gahr Hosking
Ridgetop Elementary School
Cyber Punk
I didn’t mind the smell much.
We were perfectly hidden behind a pile of burnt rubber tires and trash, and the robots suspected nothing.
We were the last two people in Cape May, New Jersey and I thought we might survive. Then, Anita sneezed.
All the robots looked at the pile we were hiding behind and slowly turned their big metal heads towards us, peering through their large red, horrifying eyes that always seemed to watch you. Before we could realize what was happening, we heard footsteps that sounded like they could destroy a city into pieces. I wasn’t mad, I was confused.
How did this happen? I was just working in the classroom when a fire burned through the dry grass patio. All I saw was a robot smile. All I heard was screaming and screeching for help.
A terrifying robot grabbed my foot and I snapped right back into the present. Dry branches cut my face as I ran through the woods, sobbing, yelling for mercy and life.
Anita wasn’t far behind me. We are three years apart. She was the computer nerd, I was the jock. We never got along. She was such a punk, or maybe I was. My mother’s last words before she was taken away were, “Take care of your sister!” I never questioned it.
I ran until my legs had no more energy left.
I climbed this tall tree and I was screaming for Anita.
“Anita! Anita!”
Shockingly, she came out walking, no robots behind her, a little grin on her face.
“I did it!” She said between gasps and wheezes. Had she hacked into the robot circuits? Fought them off?
I felt safe with my sister in my arms.
We were going to be okay.
