SoLit, in partnership with UTC, has named the winners of the 2024 Young Southern Student Writers contest. More than 300 students from area schools were selected as winners from over 3,500 submissions.
Ava Cutchins from Center for Creative Arts and AhSani Fontenot from The Howard School received the contest’s top honor, the Verbie and Hugh Prevost Award for Poetry, and will each receive a cash prize.
The award ceremony, presented by Chattanooga Exteriors and EPB and sponsored by First Horizon, will be held Tuesday, April 23, at UTC’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall at 752 Vine St. The program schedule is as follows: Grades K-5 – 5:30 p.m. and Grades 6-12 – 7 p.m. All contest winners will be presented with distinction of merit medals, and their work will be published in an electronic booklet.
The Young Southern Student Writers literary outreach program was established in 1999 in partnership with UTC. It rewards, challenges, and nurtures Hamilton County public, private, and home school students’ writing and reading skills.
The program also supports teachers and parents by encouraging their students with the fascination of reading and the importance of writing. Working with their language arts and creative writing teachers, students submit original works in either prose (fiction/nonfiction) or poetry. The student’s entries are evaluated on creativity, content, and style.
SoLit, formerly known as Southern Lit Alliance, has become an essential literary arts hub for Chattanooga. Begun by a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1952, the organization has evolved over the years from various art programs to a focus on literature and writing.
SoLit shares stories that matter, serving over 5,000 adults and children each year through literature festivals, author visits, writing workshops, book clubs, a student writing contest, and outreach to area underserved communities. SoLit is funded by grants from ArtsBuild and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
For more information, visit solitchatt.org.