Bethesda Magazine and the Bethesda Urban Partnership sponsor an annual competition for local writers. This year, 150 adults and high school students entered the short story contest, and 178 adults and high school students entered the essay contest. The writers who placed in the contests were awarded cash prizes ranging from $50 to $500. The work of the first-place winners appears on the pages that follow. Check out the runners-up at MoCo360.media and Bethesda.org.
Adult Essay Contest
FIRST PLACE: Raegan O’Lone, Bethesda
SECOND PLACE: Kyra Swantkowski, Fairfax, Virginia
THIRD PLACE: Jonathan Kronstadt, Silver Spring
HONORABLE MENTION: Charlotte Clymer, Washington, D.C.
HONORABLE MENTION: Rachel Coonce, University Park
HONORABLE MENTION: Hope Randall, Bethesda
HONORABLE MENTION: Dian Seidel, Chevy Chase
High School Essay Contest
FIRST PLACE: Hannah Brunick, Quince Orchard High School
SECOND PLACE: Sofia Guyer, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
THIRD PLACE: Ariana Miranda, Wheaton High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Winnie Chen, Thomas S. Wootton High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Joanne Fan, Thomas S. Wootton High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Chelsea Zhu, Richard Montgomery High School
Adult Short Story Contest
FIRST PLACE: Bari Lynn Hein, Germantown
SECOND PLACE: Naomi Louie, Bethesda
THIRD PLACE: J. Millard Simpson, Germantown
HONORABLE MENTION: Michael Norton, Silver Spring
HONORABLE MENTION: Karen Sandler, Washington, D.C.
HONORABLE MENTION: Silvia Spring, Washington, D.C.
High School Short Story Contest
FIRST PLACE: Abigail Ott, Northwest High School
SECOND PLACE: Sydney Tamashasky, Poolesville High School
THIRD PLACE: Noah Grosberg, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Naomi Bortnick, Walt Whitman High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Kalina Peterson, Thomas S. Wootton High School
HONORABLE MENTION: Juniper Sohn, Richard Montgomery High School
Judges
Meet the judges of this year’s writing competition.
Bethesda Magazine and the Bethesda Urban Partnership work together to honor local writers through the short story and essay contests. Short stories are limited to 2,500 words, and authors must be residents of Montgomery County or Upper Northwest D.C. (20015 and 20016 ZIP codes). Essays are limited to 500 words and writers in the adult contest must live in Washington, D.C., or select counties of Maryland (Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard and Frederick) or Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William); high school writers must be residents of or attend a school in Montgomery County or Washington, D.C.
Keep an eye out this winter for next year’s contest details at MoCo360.media and at Bethesda.org.
