Expressions 2013: Student Voices from North Alabama: A Restless Time to Follow the Yellow Brick Road

This is the inaugural 2013 edition of Expressions: Student Voices of North Alabama. Sponsored by the Huntsville Literary Association (HLA) of Huntsville, Alabama, the Young Writers’ Contest (YWC) has been championing the literary arts for students for over 45 years. Expressions represents a step forward for HLA by publishing the top student entries in the High School Short Story competition portion of YWC. Other YWC competitions involve elementary, middle school, and high school poetry and middle school short stories. This inaugural edition, A Restless Time for Following the Yellow Brick Road, incorporates the top 30 student stories from entries invited from over 50 public and private high schools in North Alabama. After a thorough evaluation by a panel of professionals, educators, and university professors, the top award went to Aubrey Gonzalez, Harvest, Alabama, for her story “Isolated System”. Aubrey will receive the Dorothy Hendry Award for Literary Achievement, named after one of the founders of HLA in 1967 who was also an English Department head at Huntsville High for 20 years. Second place went to Sarah Sizemore, Huntsville, Alabama, for her story “Reflections of the Mind” and Third place went to Mary Butgereit, Madison, Alabama for her story “Wordsmiths”. The artwork for the cover was also generated by a high school competition among artists. Throy Bond, Owens Crossroads, Alabama, won that competition for his artwork “Restless Time” which graces the cover of Expressions.