Actors Bill Jones and Christine Kludjian read the top three winning stories for first and second grade. One of the authors was ill, so a sister accepted the award for him.
The annual summer youth writing contest winners were announced at a ceremony at the Palisades Library. The contest, with the theme “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to . .. ” opened in June and closed on September 5. Submissions were judged on creativity, originality, effort, plot and theme.
At the October 9 ceremony, the top three stories in each of the categories were read/acted by professional actors Bill Jones and Christine Kludjian. “Writers” are generally thrilled to hear their words come alive and Jones and Kludjian joked they’ve been reading the winning stories “about 40 years.”
The event was extremely entertaining, as Jones and Kludjian dramatized and found humorous moments in each story.
The two actors praised the writers. “Keep writing,” Jones said. “Whatever you do, keep writing.”
Kludjian added, “It’s great watching you grow over the years.” They read stories from children when they are the primary grades, and then watch as they go onto win in high school.
The top three entries in five grade categories (1-2; 3-4; 5-6; 7-8; and high school) won gift certificates to Diesel Books. The contest was open to all residents of Los Angeles or for those who attend a school in Los Angeles. CTN will run the winning story in each category over the next five publications.
All participants received a a free ice cream cone/dish from McConnells. Bay Theater offered a raffle prize of four free tickets, popcorns and drinks, which all in attendance were eligible to enter.
Scribblers (Grades 1 & 2)
1st Place: The Hunt for the Diamond –– by Mark James “MJ” Brown (Calvary Christian School)
2nd Place: Taco Night Terror – by Jack Kervin (Calvary Christian School)
3rd Place: The Missing Fruit Guy – by Roman McNitt (Village School)
Jotters (Grades 3 & 4)
1st Place: Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Zoo – by Phoebe Hanelin (Marquez Charter School)
2nd Place: A Dream – by Emma Kerdiles (Santa Monica Preparatory School)
3rd Place: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Ice Cream with My Friends – by Clara Bowles (Corpus Christi)
Scrawlers (Grades 5 & 6)
1st Place: A Voice of Encouragement – by Scarlett Taylor (Brawerman East Elementary)
2nd Place: Escape from Ziatonia – by Ella Kervin (Calvary Christian School)
Scribes (Grades 7 & 8)
1st Place: The Bank Heist – by Rohan Mukhopadhyay (Paul Revere Middle School)
2nd Place: A Lucky Find – by Sydney Lee (Mirman School)
3rd Place: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Mountain – by Hudson Marks (Milken Community School)
Authors (High School)
1st Place: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Ground – by James Corman (Harvard-Westlake)
2nd Place: Checkmate – by Audrey Yael Smith (Palisades Charter High School)
3rd Place: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Tuesday – by James Marks (Milken Community School)
(Editor’s note: the stories are not edited. The contest was intended to reflect a child’s best effort for his/her age—and parents were asked not to “help.”)
The Hunt for The Diamond
By: MARK JAMES BROWN (Scribbler winner, Grade 1 & 2)
A funny thing happened on the way to the grocery store. Sam was walking to the grocery store when he saw a sign that read missing diamond in the red gold mines.
Sam had no idea what the red gold mines were. Then he saw a snake shop. Sam then thought maybe I could buy some snakes to protect me, so he went inside. He bought five snakes. Then he asked the cashier if he knew about the red gold mines. He said yes and handed Sam a map of the Oxygen World and he saw the red gold mines.
Then he went to the camping store and bought all the stuff he needed and walked home. He called his friends to see if they wanted to come. They both said yes. They walked to Sam’s house. Sam, Axel, and Jack fell into the floor and they whooshed out of earth and to the Oxygen World. Then they landed on a trampoline. They got off and started their quest.
They were in a forest but not just any forest, the wacky forest. All the trees looked really weird. They saw a lot of squirrels. Then they finally got out. By then it was nighttime so they set up their tent, ate dinner, and went to bed.
The next morning, it was raining. Sam, Axel, and Jack went into a cave. Sam saw a bunch of statues. Then Axel heard snakes. Jack thought it was Medusa, so the three of them shut their eyes tight but Axel was too late so now he was a statue. Jack ran but he looked at Medusa.
Luckily, Sam was prepared so he sprayed them with a special spray and they ran out of the cave and hid behind a rock. Once the coast was clear they set up their tent and went to bed. The next morning, they walked until they got to the red gold mines and there was 1000 zombies.
Sam, Axel, and Jack grabbed a peace of bark and used it as a sword. They were so good they knocked out 500 in the first 5 minutes. Then Sam saw a path he ran away from the zombies.
Then Sam started digging, he found three diamonds and a Lamborghini. Jack and Axel hopped in and they drove off. They drove for a long time then they saw 1000 zombies, Medusa, and 1,000,000,000 monsters they knew they had to fight.
So they drove over the monsters but some of them had cars so the monsters kept trying to ram them, but they kept dodging them. They zoomed around. They got past, but the zombies with cars chased them. They got to the portal and whooshed back to earth.
They were in California. Sam ,Axel, and Jack jumped behind some bushes. They saw Sams house and parked in the garage. They went inside and Sam told his parents about the diamond and from then on there was a diamond in Sam, Axel, and Jacks rooms.