We received over 600 submissions to our Camp NaNoWriMo Young Writers Contest last April. We read about dragons and demon hunters and aliens; we read about graveyards and romance and magic powers. You surprised us. You delighted (and scared!) us. Basically, we were over the moon impressed. You turned a prompt about a storm into 300 spectacular words, and for that, all of your deserve a humongous CONGRATULATIONS!*

And now, the winners! These authors took us on a journey. With just a few words, they built unique worlds, made us care about their characters, and left us feeling changed in some way. Look for their winning stories next week in Breaking News and on the NaNoWriMo blog:

• Grand Prize, High School — Megan
  “It was raining in the Library. Ropes of sloe-black ink slithered from the rafters like roots in a desert...” Read the rest!
• Grand Prize, Middle/Elementary School — Ainsley 
  “Pitter patter, pitter patter. The sounds echo through the room, surrounding me in a gray, looming light as I lie in my bed...” Read the rest!
• Honorable Mention, High School — Bethany
  “‘It's a pretty heavy storm.’ His brows furrowed skeptically at the rain beating against the window. 'Are you sure you need soup now?'" Read the rest!
  
• Honorable Mention, High School — Annabel
  "Violet is cooking breakfast when she hears Nana hollering from outside. It’s raining, and the droplets leaking from the ceiling echo in the tin pail next to her..." Read the rest!
  
• Honorable Mention, Middle/Elementary School — Violet
  “The wind and rain swirls around me. My tattered cloak whips behind me in the wind...” Read the rest!

Winners receive publication in the NaNoWriMo blog, gift certificates to the NaNoWriMo store, and subscriptions to 4thewords.

*It was sooooo (imagine that word just stretches on for miles) hard to choose just a few winners. If your story wasn't picked, it doesn't mean it was bad or that we didn't like it. Submitting stories to a contest is kind of like entering a lottery: at a certain point, it really comes down to luck. All writers—even professional ones, even famous ones—get rejected tens or hundreds of times before they get accepted. We encourage all of you to continue writing and submitting your creative work. Being a writer takes guts, and you've got them. 

In the meantime, post your 300-word story and read other submissions in this dedicated forum thread. 

Show off your writer guts to the world (metaphorically, please!):