This year, MoPop and Jack Straw Cultural Center collaborated to provide winners of their annual Write Out of This World Writing Contest with a unique experience: Winners participated in a writing workshop, voice workshop, and recording session at Jack Straw, resulting in a professional recording of each writer reading their work. Every audio piece includes an excerpt of their story, plus a summary introduction which Jack Straw writer Jared Leising helped them write.

Listen to the story excerpts below, and click on the titles to read the stories.

3rd – 5th Grade Winners:

1st Place: “Mongie the Kookie” by Amanda Ong
2nd Place: “Macaroni and Mars Don’t Mix” by Anna Holbrook
3rd Place: “November’s Save” by Sophia Baldwin

6th – 8th Grade Winners:

1st Place: “Humanity” by Lily Hurt
2nd Place: “The Flower of Skye” by Shayla McCombs
3rd Place: “Omega” by Sophie Lee

9th – 12th Grade Winners:

1st Place: “Devotion” by Carly Cooper
2nd Place: “Somewhere Only We Know” by Camille Lemire
3rd Place: “Names in Stone” by Sophia Harris

Jack Straw artist team included Jared Leising, writer; Christine Marie Brown and Andrew McGinn, vocal coaches; CJ Lazenby, engineer; Joan Rabinowitz, executive director. Photos by Alexander Karbo.

Artists