The following are excerpts from the winning pieces.

An excerpt from Sam and I and Boat Number Five~ a memoir by Clara Neilson

     Half of my hair had fallen out of my ponytail, I was sopping wet, my face was red, my hands were scratched, my whole body was numb and to top it off, I think salt was flaking off my skin! It stung my eyes and my numerous cuts and scrapes. I was on the verge of crying. Yet I had a look of sheer happiness on my face. Sam was red all over, frustrated, drenched, and falling apart. Our sails were dripping and dirty but nobody cared. At that moment in time I realized that if it wasn’t for Sam, I wouldn’t have accomplished half of what I did that day. I knew I couldn’t have gone out alone. I realized that what I had completed was the most terrifying, frustrating, cold, hard, unexpected amazing experience of my life, and I was proud. I couldn’t have done it without Sam; we did it together.

An excerpt from The Incredible Gift~ a memoir by Blaine Steinberg

     Ugonna and Dwayne approached me so I could talk to them. They held the piece of net out for me to take. I was frozen and speechless for the first time in my life.
Why would they give away their senior piece of the net? I was just a dedicated ten year old who was a huge Penn fan. I was just a little girl who lost her voice after every game, a small child who only missed two or three games their entire college careers.
I denied it the first five times at least. How could I take something so special from them? They insisted I take it.
I gently removed it from their wet, hot fingers. Placing it in my own hands, soggy from crying, I couldn’t think.

An excerpt from Water Slide~ a memoir by Brendan Zarilli

     The water hammers behind me like a lion pounding on a zebra. I can’t make out anything. The jets that release the water give a mist which rises to my face like an ocean breeze. I smell the chlorine and hear the danger ahead. It sounds like white water rapids trapped in an enclosed area and they sound as mad as a grizzly.
---
I flip over and over and every time I pull myself back up. I struggle and fight my little six year old heart out. Frightened of going over the edge, I curl up like a turtle in its shell and start to scream and cry.
After a while it hits me that I am strong and I can fight. If I’d already fought halfway why couldn’t I fight another half?

An excerpt from Amaze Yourself~ a memoir by Sarah Balun
     In front of me was something I had never seen in all my years of childhood. It was a huge tower growing towards the second floor of the mall. It had plastic grips the colors of Fruit Loops. No amount of glory compared to this moment. It was more magnificent than anything I had ever seen. More exciting than my brother’s bike, more stupendous than a four leaf clover, even more amazing than a visit to the zoo to see giant pandas. Hey, I was seven years old and that was my world.
---
 I edged my way farther. I began to smell the scent of apples, pears, and cherries. I could almost see the leaves, branches and tiny ants that dwell in the trees. I could hear the wind whispering in my ear as if it was telling me a secret. A soft breeze brushed against my cheek and the roughness of the bark could be felt against my sweaty palms. I was back at the orchard surrounding my house.
 During the summer when the days were burning up everyone’s joy, I would climb trees and pick fruit to put into pies. If I could do that, I could certainly climb this manufactured tower.

Nauset Beach~ a poem by Annie Aspinall

The salty ocean pulses in and out
Water green tinged with foam
Oatmeal sand dots the land
A perfect shell lies buried like treasure
Under colored rocks and pebbles
A white sail belonging to a lone sloop
Blends in with white puffy clouds
Salt and pepper seagulls cackle
And leave small footprints
On the shell-studded beach
They fly up to the dunes
To have secret conversations
Crabs scuttle frantically
Across the shore
Hoping to find a safe sandy hole

The Concept of Us~ a poem by Sarah Kensell

The world is
     A big place
           With too many people
     All in a hurry to get somewhere.
I long to
      Run up to them
           And be five again
But
      I’m left
           On a deserted island
I have everything
           And
        Nothing,
All at the same time.

There is no time for thinking
       I run
           To the highest point
               Of a big old tree
                        Reaching for the sky

With everyone else bouncing
        Around the world.