Twenty-one juniors and seniors from across the state have been named finalists of the annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest. Now in its eighth year, the contest is presented by the South Carolina Honors College in partnership with the Pat Conroy Literary Center, the South Carolina Academy of Authors, the South Carolina Writers Association, and the South Carolina State Library.
Grand Judge for the 2020-2021 contest is Jonathan Haupt, director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and former director of the University of South Carolina Press. Previous judges have been acclaimed South Carolina writers, including novelists Pat Conroy, Pam Durban, Mary Alice Monroe, and Elise Blackwell, poets Nikky Finney, Marjory Wentworth and Sam Amadon, and historian Walter Edgar.
For the contest, writers must answer, within 750 words and in any genre, one question: “How can we make South Carolina better?”
The finalists for the 2020-2021 year are:
Oliver Abar, Mount Pleasant - Academic Magnet High School
Shahd Abdeladl, Greer - Greenville Technical Charter High School
Taylor Cook, Simpsonville - Greenville Technical Charter High School
Sophia Cox, Clemson - D.W. Daniel High School
Carolyn Christopher, Greer - Greer Middle College Charter High School
Emily Gray, Sumter - Wilson Hall
Angel Huang, Columbia - Spring Valley High School
Aiden Gavin Johnson, Mount Pleasant - Charleston County School of the Arts
Haya Kidwai, Duncan - GREEN Charter School of Greenville
Angela Levasseur, Moore - James F. Byrnes High School
Cassidy Lewis, Mount Pleasant - Charleston County School of the Arts
Amanda Murphy, Myrtle Beach - Early College High School, Conway
Sarah Nelson, Myrtle Beach - Socastee High School
Maggie Nolen, Piedmont - Wren High School
Maya Pai, Charleston - Academic Magnet High School
Lucia Stevick-Brown, Columbia - Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics
Ned Walpole, Johns Island - Charleston County School of the Arts
Bryanna Warner, Myrtle Beach - St. James High School
Alisa Wharton, Abbeville - Abbeville High School
Aiden Wood, Charleston - Charleston County School of the Arts
Winnie Zheng, Clemson - SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics