Laura Ingram’s piece “Absolute Value” won third place in the fiction category.
When did you know you wanted to write?
Since I learned how to spell words out. My first story was written when I was six and it was about a family of birds who committed tax evasion.
Who or what inspires you to write?
Everything around me–how I feel, how other people feel, something I see, things that I read. A big inspiration for me has been The Book Thief, a novel by Markus Zusak. The extraordinary artistry of his prose blows me away every single time and I go back to that book every time I get stuck. I’ve read it seventeen times.
How does it feel/shape your writing knowing something you created won an award?
This isn’t my first major award, but I was super surprised and very pleased when I found out about it. Getting paid for a piece made me feel like a real member of the writing world. It was like the birthday of my creative abilities and I felt celebrated. I’m so glad my teacher told me to partake in this contest.
I would like to study creative writing and communications and become a writer, college professor, both, or possibly a child life specialist after high school.