More than 200 creative writing manuscripts from Lawrence High School’s creative writing program were published in the past school year, and many writers garnered national attention. Here are the top winners:

Rachael Beaumont placed first in the Kansas Voices poetry contest and received $75. Megan Heacock captured honorable mention in the youth poetry division of Kansas Voices and received $25. Both were treated to lunch at Winfield’s Art and Humanities Celebration and read their work aloud to an audience gathered to honor them. Both will be published in the upcoming publication.

Whitney Juneau won first place in the John Lennon song lyric contest sponsored by the Lawrence Journal-World.

Drew Cummings was one of six winners in the nation in the Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest. He received $100, a gold medal and publication in READ magazine last September. It was the third straight year that Lawrence High has placed a poet in the top six in the nation.

Kahheetah Barnoskie was named a Top Ten Poet and published on the winner’s page of Celebration of Young Poets. In addition to being published, she won a $50 savings bond and a complimentary copy of the book. Only 10 poems from the Midwest were chosen.

Nicolette Weil was a national winner with her poem “Fantsy,” which was published in the April 2004 issue of Voice of Youth Advocates magazine, which is distributed to libraries nationwide. Only five poems were chosen nationally for publication. In addition, she was presented with a cash prize of $20.

Octavia Chandra’s poem “I am From” was selected from thousands of submissions and published in the September 2004 issue of Writing magazine, along with her photograph and personal interview.

In addition to these writers, 27 were featured on the library Internet, 44 others were featured in Celebration of Young Poets, 95 students had their work featured by the Lawrence Journal-World and 29 had their work showcased in Graffiti literary magazine.

The winning writers are all students of Joy Clumsky, creative writing teacher at Lawrence High.