School System Announces Young Georgia Author Winners

February 21, 2024 Jessica Waters

The Stephens County School System recently announced the school grade-level winners of the Young Georgia Authors Writing Competition.

Sponsored by the Georgia Language Arts Supervisors and the Georgia RESA Network With support from the Georgia Department of Education, the Young Georgia Authors program began in 1991 and is open to any student currently enrolled in Georgia public schools, grades K-12.

Entries may include short stories, poetry, essays, journalism, academic/research reports, personal narratives, or any other original student writing.

School grade-level winners for 2023-2024 include:

Big A Elementary:

Kindergarten – Samson Ramey

Liberty Elementary:

1st Grade – Bethany Foster

2nd Grade – Lillian Bailey

Toccoa Elementary:

3rd Grade – Charlotte Hill

4th Grade – Ryan Hill

Stephens 5th Grade Academy:

5th Grade – Bentley Elrod

Stephens County Middle School:

6th Grade – Alayna Bloomer

7th Grade – Lillian Gore

8th Grade – Reese Balhoff

Stephens County High School:

9th Grade – Maelynne White

10th Grade – Kalia Bramblett

11th Grade – Kaylee Rice

12th Grade – Jamiya Mitchell

The writings of these local award-winning authors will now be entered into the regional Pioneer RESA competition. If selected as winners at the regional level, these entries will go on to compete at the state level.

Winning entries:

Kindergarten- Samson Ramey- _ The Elf_-1

Kindergarten- Samson Ramey- _ The Elf_-2

1st Grade- Bethany Foster- _The Day the Flower Bloomed_

2nd Grade – Lillian Bailey- _Star the Panda_

Grade 3 YGA- Charlottle Hill- Toccoa Elem

Grade 4 YGA- Ryan Hill- Toccoa Elem

Grade 5 YGA- Bentley Elrod- SC5GA

Grade 6 YGA- Alayna Bloomer- SCMS

Grade 7 YGA- Lillian Gore- SCMS

Grade 8 YGA- Reese Balhoff- SCMS

9th Grade – M. White- _If Only it Were Tomorrow_