Sitting upright at a desk, leaning back in a chair or sprawling out on the floor, the students made themselves as comfortable as possible as they spent a day reading - and judging - written entries in the Young Authors Program at Carl Sandburg Middle School.

About 57 students from sixth, seventh and eighth grade entered a written piece. Another 24 students volunteered to serve as judges, reading and critiquing the entries using a rubric based on category. Entries ranged from poetry to short stories to narratives.

The student judges said they enjoyed spending much of their day reading and exploring the ideas other students came up with.

“I really like this program because it lets us read our peers’ essays and short stories and lets us understand them more, even if we don’t know who’s writing them,” said eighth-grader Olivia Max-Boyle.

Work is submitted in both English and Spanish, a nod to the school’s successful bilingual program.

After reading the pieces, the students, gathered in groups by grade level, had discussions based on the scores they gave each piece. The students decided on what the cut-offs will be for the winning pieces, said CSMS Teacher Lilian Quint who worked with colleagues Tim Shrank and Art Teacher Lisa Shirley on the program. 

The winning entries will be included in an anthology that is published each year at the school. But before the collection is published, Shirley’s art students will help to illustrate those pieces as well as the cover of the anthology.  Everyone who has a winning entry or an illustrated piece will get a copy of the anthology.

Listen to what some of our eighth-grade judges had to say about the Young Authors Program in this short video.

Caption: Students read and critique written works from their peers during the school’s Young Authors Program.