Mercer County student wins statewide writing contest

ATHENS, WV (WOAY) –  Every year, students across the state participate in the Young Writers Contest held by the Central West Virginia Writing Project. Students write original stories that are judged first by their school, then county.

Once county winners are announced, they move on to the Central West Virginia Writing Project to be judged. All state contenders usually attend a Young Writers Day at the University of Charleston to be recognized, but state health guidelines prevented it this year.
Aedan O’Quinn, a 5th grade student at Athens Elementary School, won first place in the 5-6 grade level with his story, “The Colder War”.

He received a certificate and a $100 award.

A video of Aedan reading his story can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aGgT2oGFvqMz7dtmj0naqS77GD1QGl2/view.

Aedan’s success is no surprise to principal Shelley Weiss and teacher Donna Ball. “Aedan enjoys challenges and is what I call ‘an out of the box thinker’. He is constantly searching for knowledge. This is exhibited in this wonderful story. Aedan had to know what the actual Cold War was to apply it to his story,” Mrs. Ball commented.

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