Write On! Ukraine Creative Writing Competition at the Gymnasia

The creative writing of First City Gymnasia students was celebrated this week at an assembly honoring those who took part in an international writing contest.

Fourteen students won awards for the stories they wrote during the Write On! competition, which encourages creativity and imagination. All 41 contest participants from FCG were recognized at the assembly and received certificates. “Everyone took the contest and their writing seriously, and it showed in the stories you wrote,” said Peace Corps Response Volunteer Sonia Scherr, a local coordinator for Write On!

Write On! is an annual creative writing competition organized by Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. Participants have one hour to respond in English to a writing prompt, without any help from peers, teachers, dictionaries or Google. The contest is open to sixth through 11 th formers, college and university students, and adults who are non-native English speakers.

Write On! is an annual creative writing competition organized by Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. Participants have one hour to respond in English to a writing prompt, without any help from peers, teachers, dictionaries or Google. The contest is open to sixth through 11 th  formers, college and university students, and adults who are non-native English speakers.

The winners of the Write On! competition held on Feb. 12 at FCG were sixth formers Olha Oliinyk (first place), Sofiia Fiedosieieva and Roman Fedianovych (tied for second place), and Daryna Skrypnyk and Diana Taranenko (tied for third place); seventh formers Polina Kvasova (first place) and Mariia Honda (second place); eighth formers Diana Shypovych (first place), Alina Sakhno and Viktoriia Suzuki (tied for second place), and Danil Denha (third place); ninth formers Yevhen Tykhonov (first place) and Daria Andriichenko (honorable mention); and 10 th  former Kate Velko (first place).

The winning stories from FCG were submitted to the regional Write On! judges, who selected the oblast winners. First place oblast winners from FCG were Olha Oliinyk, Diana Shypovych and Yevhen Tykhonov. In addition, Polina Kvasova received second place and Kate Velko was awarded third place. The first-place oblast stories have been sent to the national judges, who will choose the winners for all of Ukraine. Those stories — along with award winners from roughly 20 other Peace Corps countries — will be judged by a committee that will select the international winners and publish them online.

FCG students will also get a chance to see their work in print. Sonia Scherr will work with students to edit their Write On! submissions, and FCG will publish selected stories in a booklet later this month.