Donna Warren’s entry, “The Red Pig,” took first place in EPIC’s inaugural writing contest. Warren, along with fellow winners in the Adult and Youth categories, will be honored at a party and reading at Red Petal Cakes on June 20, from 7-8 p.m.

The Adult winners are as follows: First Place went to Donna Warren for “The Red Pig”; Second: Victoria Peters for “Kaidja”; Third: Susan Ferguson for “Citizen’s League”; Honorable Mention:  Jeanne Gerhard for “Inspiration.” In the Youth category, First Place went to Ailish Mackey for “Behind Those Glasses”; Second: Kunjan Chadha for “Mother”; Third to Lauren Mallory for “An Overweight Girl in a Dressing Room”; and Honorable Mention (tie) to Angela Lee for “Las Vegas” and Ethan Brown for “To Kill Intolerance.”

The contest was led by EPIC’s Dianne O’Connell, Sheri LaVay, and Kizzie Jones. When Jones was asked about the entries, she said, “I was surprised with the intensity of feelings and the grappling with harsh realities of life, which were much more evident than expected in the youth writings.”

O’Connell was struck by the opening line in “An Overweight Girl in a Dressing Room”: “A lonesome dove in a two-ton beast.” “It speaks for every girl of any age who has ever been told or who believes she is too fat,” said O’Connell. She was also “surprised and pleased at the number of Youth Division entries received. If we can continue to support and encourage young writers and poets, I think we will have done a very good thing.”

According to Jones, “The annual fall Write on the Sound set the stage for a strong writing community in Edmonds. The formation of EPIC cultivates a climate all year long to benefit those who desire to come together and support one another in the craft of writing. What once might have been considered a solitary endeavor has been reinvented into a community of those who write and encourage and inspire others to write.”

Contest leader LaVay summed up the value of writing: “Remember, you don’t have to be a published author to be a writer. Writing is simply good for the soul and many times is soul-saving.”

An e-book featuring the winning compositions is set to be released in time for the June 20 party. For more information on the event and the local writing community, see EPIC Group.