2025 AACC Young Writers Award for Creative Writing

May 16, 2025

AACC celebrates the county’s 11th- and 12th-grade poets and fiction writers with the Young Writers Award. 

The competition, in its second year, is designed to provide an opportunity for young people who wish to pursue creative writing, and to bolster Anne Arundel Community College as a center for literary arts in the county. 

A panel of judges consisting of AACC faculty members reviewed the submissions and arrived at the winning pieces.

Learn more about the award.

HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS

• Darby Carroll from Annapolis High School is the winner of the short story award with “Papillon.” The judges were amazed at the way Carroll utilized imagery and language in her story to communicate visceral grief.
• “Reaching” by Zora Jakes, also from Annapolis High School, was runner-up for the short story award. The judges were taken with the sympathetic treatment of homelessness in the story, as well as its hopeful conclusion.

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

• Benjamin Reed from Crofton High School is the winner of the poetry award with his “Apology Letter.” The judges were captivated by how his poem marshals imagery and sophisticated lineation to investigate the themes of loss and longing.
• “I am But a Body” by Beatrix Maynard of Annapolis High School was runner-up for the poetry award. The judges admired the poem’s concrete form and appreciated how its lineation reflects the poem’s theme of stewardship of the body.

The winners each will receive $500, and their winning pieces will appear in this year’s edition of Amaranth, AACC’s award-winning journal for literature and the arts.