Two Montclair seventh graders and one sixth-grader, all from Glenfield School, won the sixth annual Friends of Anderson Park Short Story Contest. The winners are: Madhuja Ghosh’s story, Fairy Tales, about a not-so-wicked stepmother, Madison Pholwattana’s magical trip through a tree to another world, The Hollow in the Tree, and Desmond MacBride’s tale, Birdbrain, about an obsessed birdwatcher.
Each winner will receive $100 from Friends of Anderson Park. Winners will read their stories at an awards ceremony at Montclair Public Library’s Bellevue Avenue Branch, March 3, at 3 p.m. All stories can be found on the park conservancy’s website at https://friendsofandersonpark.com/contest-winners/.
Celebrating A Beloved Park
Every year, judges are amazed and delighted by the quality of the entries, whether winners or not. Ann Anderson Evans, one of the contest’s founders, says, “Every year these middle schoolers nourish my hopes for the future.”
This year’s judges were Judy Newman, Montclair’s“book lady” on Halloween and chief impact officer of Scholastic; Sharon Dennis Wyeth, author of numerous award-winning books for children and young adults; Michael Laser, author of books for adults and younger readers; and Ann Anderson Evans, whose second memoir, “The Sweet Pain of Being Alive,”was released this year. Laser and Evans previously taught writing at Montclair State University.
Friends of Anderson Park formed in 2006, just over a century after the Olmsted-designed park opened in Upper Montclair. It is a non-profit conservancy dedicated to stewardship of Anderson Park’s natural, cultural, environmental and educational qualities. Its primary mission is to protect the spirit and integrity of the park’s nationally significant Olmsted design and maintain its pastoral ambiance.
The conservancy’s short-story contest returns next fall. Students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades who live in Montclair or attend school here, including home-schooled students, are encouraged to apply.
