Aug. 27, 2021

Three students honored in regional writing contest

Three Upper St. Clair High School students recently earned recognition in the 2021 Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest. Recent graduate Emily Rhodes placed second in the Poetry category for her poem, “Blood Sisters.” In addition, junior Maanasa Reddy received Honorable Mention in both the Short Prose and Poetry categories and senior Shana Reddy earned Honorable Mention in Poetry.

The award-winning entries are among the student writings published in the 2021 Ralph Munn Creative Writing Anthology, which is distributed to all Allegheny County public and school libraries.

The contest, funded by an endowment from former Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Director Ralph Munn, awards first place winners in each category with $250 and second place winners with $100. The contest was open to Allegheny County high school students in grades 9 – 12.

Judging the Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest were author Deesha Philyaw (Short Prose) and Emerging Poet Laureate of Allegheny County Paloma Sierra (Poetry).

The Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest is part of the Carnegie Library’s 2021 Teen Media Awards. More than 200 young writers, visual artists, musicians, filmographers and inventors in Allegheny County vied for honors. The Awards, which serve as a platform for celebrating teens and their original content are divided into two parts – The Ralph Munn Creative Writing Awards and the Labsy Awards — and recognize a broad range of creative work.

For more information – including the complete list of winners, visit: https://www.carnegielibrary.org/clp_press_release/2021-carnegie-library-teen-media-awards-recognize-broad-range-of-creative-work/.