Barrington High School students Violet Johnson and Kayla Duvel received special awards from Write Rhode Island as part of a short fiction writing competition. The students were honored at an event on Monday, March 11.

Kayla received a notable mention for her story, titled "How We Met" while Violet also received notable mention for her story "A Mirrored Memory." 

Both stories will be published alongside the other winners of Write Rhode Island in a special anthology. 

Write Rhode Island is a short fiction writing competition for Rhode Island students in grades 7 to 12 presented by School One and Goat Hill. The goal of Write Rhode Island is to promote and celebrate the works of students by incorporating Rhode Island as a theme in a creative piece of prose. This past fall, Write Rhode Island sponsored free creative writing workshops for teens at public libraries and schools across the state. 

Of the more than 150 competition entries from across the Ocean State, more than 90 percent of students cited teachers and librarians as their introduction to Write Rhode Island. 

Diana DeCesaris Champa, director of literary engagement at School One, is also the competition’s coordinator. 

“It’s very exciting to provide an audience and a way to connect students with writing outside the classroom,” said Ms. Champa. “The opportunity to be published can be inspiring, and it gives students another reason to work at rewriting, editing and polishing their work. Last year, teachers reached out to thank us for providing this type of writing opportunity outside the classroom for students. This year, we received more than 150 submissions and we’re thrilled.” 

The winners of the Write Rhode Island short story competition will be honored at a special awards ceremony at the Newport Art Museum on April 7. Winners will also be part of the PVD Fringe on July 27, as part of the Family Fringe event at the Wilbury Theater in Providence.