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: “Ordinary” by Edan Gortzak
2nd Place: “The Thirteenth Stella” by Amelia Jones
3rd Place: “Train 362” by Cordelia Rodriguez

6th – 8th Grade Winners:

1st Place: “In Which Phyllis B Takes Over the World” by Elise Hebert
2nd Place: “The Night Was Theirs” by Violet Keteyian
3rd Place: “5/15” by Jinho Kwak

9th – 12th Grade Winners:

1st Place: “The Temple of Lost Gods” by Tully McCombs
2nd Place: “Unlikely Gifts from a Reaper” by Megan Bass
3rd Place: “The Buffer” by Ava Cline

Jack Straw artist team included Jared Leising, writer; Meg McLynn and Alyssa Keene, vocal coaches; Daniel Guenther, engineer; Joan Rabinowitz, executive director. Photos by Joan Rabinowitz.

Artists