The annual Hays Arts Council Creative Writing Contest for Prose and Poetry is open to all Ellis County students in kindergarten through grade 12.

The numerous entries are judged by Fort Hays State University’s English faculty using the “Six-Trait Analytical” which most area schools have adopted to assess student writing.

This year’s winners were recognized April 29 in a special ceremony and reception with their families and teachers in the FHSU Memorial Union Ballroom.

Hays Arts Council president Jennifer Sauer presented ribbons to the winners and posed for pictures with them.  The students, along with their teachers, were also given a book in which all the winning entries are published.

Roosevelt 4th-grader Emily Goetz won for her prose “Ocean Friend.”  Emily says she’s been writing since she was 5 years old and plans to become an author of chapter books.

The HAC Creative Writing Contest is sponsored by the Hays Optimist Club.