The best teen writing of 2008

THE ALLIANCE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS & WRITERS PRESENTS

THE BEST TEEN WRITING OF 2008

THE ALLIANCE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS & WRITERS PRESENTS

For information or permission contact: Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc. 557 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212-343-6493 www.artandwriting.org No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form, or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without the written permission from the publisher. Copyright © 2008 Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Anthology printing, September 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-545-13390-9 ISBN-10: 0-545-13360-2

THE BEST TEENWRITING OF 2008
FOREWORD BY CHUCK PALAHNIUK EDITED BY TEMNETE SEBHATU

SELECTED NATIONAL AWARD WINNERS FROM THE SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS

ABOUT THE BEST TEEN WRITING OF 2008
The works featured in The Best Teen Writing of 2008 are selected from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a national program presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which recognizes talented teenagersin the visual and literary arts. The Awards were founded in 1923 to celebrate the accomplishments of creative students and extend to them the same opportunities for recognition as their athletic and academic classmates. This year, more than 100,000 artworks and manuscripts were submitted to 76 regional affiliates. Professional artists, authors, educators and creative industry leaders reviewed theworks, without knowledge of the students’ identities and with no restriction on the content, looking for excellence in three criteria: technical skill, originality, and the emergence of a personal voice. Approximately 30,000 students were recognized on the local level. Of those students, 1,139 received national awards. These young artists and writers have joined the ranks of artists and authorssuch as Richard Avedon, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Carolyn Forché, Philip Pearlstein, Sylvia Plath, Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Maynard, Andy Warhol and countless others who won awards when they were teenagers. This year, 389 young writers received national recognition through The Awards. Forty-one were chosen for The Best Teen Writing of 2008. The writing selected represents the diversity of thenational award winners, including age and grade, gender, genre, geography and subject matter. A complete listing of national award winners and a broader selection of works from The Awards can be found on our Web site at www.artandwriting.org. To learn how to submit writing to The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2009, visit www.artandwriting.org.

CONTENTS
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION —TemneteSebhatu
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10

A MESSAGE FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 —Kent Williamson SNAKES AND SPIDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 —Chuck Palahnuik

PORTFOLIO GOLD AWARDS
Graduating highschool seniors may submit a portfolio of 3-8 works for review by authors, educators, and literary professionals. Winners of the General Writing Portfolio and Non-fiction Portfolio Gold Award receive $10,000 scholarships.

HOMETOWN HARMONICS, Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 SUNDAYS ARE FOR LOVERS, Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 TO LILY SPELLMAN, Short Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 —Emma Morrison, Brooklyn NY DATE OF RELEASE, Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 NAMES, Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SPAM MAIL, Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....