Prologue
Bright and strong, the tall goldenrod is South Carolina’s state wildflower. We think Solidago altissima also represents our state’s best young writers. Here are 18 of them, each of whom composed an original response to our annual question, “How can we make South Carolina better?” Read on and take heart. These writers are bright and strong indeed.
Winners
First Place – If This Were A Fairytale by Dune Adams
Second Place – The Fifty States of High School by Caitlin Ferry
Third Place – Wax Museums, Wikipedia, and White Supremacy by Cam Beck
Honorable Mention – Children: The Humans Who Are Not by Ansley Allgood
Argumentative Essays
To Think Is to Improve by Jonathan Dixon
What It Means to Be Southern by Emmanuel Lopez-Reyna
Liquor Liability Laws Are Killing Faulkner by Mary Frances Ruskell
We Are Brittanee Drexel by Maren Spangler
Fiction
Morning on the Dock by Niamh Carmichael
The Seventh Bandage by Lillian Osbon
Could Have by Lyra Pinner
Personal Essays
No Safe Place by Jaylee Carter
From Coconut Trees to Palmettos by Isabella Corretjer
Another Lockdown Drill by Eleanora Davis
Poetry
Herbicides for Homegrown Hate by Donshea Brown
Why Are We So Naive? by Hannah Brown
Listen by Lucy Hartley
For the Soul of South Carolina by Tatiyana James
South Carolina’s Musical Soul by Sara Weston
Acknowledgments
The annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest wouldn’t be possible without other individuals and organizations. We thank South Carolina Honors College alumnus Thad Westbrook, the Pat Conroy Literary Center (Jonathan Haupt, executive director); the South Carolina State Library (Leesa Aiken, director); South Carolina Academy of Authors (Wilmot Irvin, chair); and the South Carolina Writers Association (Ash Smith, president). We also thank Carla Damron, grand judge for this year’s contest, and the many high school guidance counselors and teachers who encouraged students to submit. The students in the fall 2024 semester of SCHC 384, Finding Your Voice: Writing and Editing for Life, were the first editors of volume 12. They are Sari Bernstein, Jadyn Coulter, Connor Dow, Claire Ervin, Lakin Gruver, Sophie Karpowicz, Isabel Rogers, Maya Specter, Emily Squires, Brea Stone, Ellie Tanner, Cameron Thomas, Aubrey Ultsch and Dylan Wright.