(February 24, 2013) The Anson County Writers' Club gave certificates and cash prizes to 12 area writers Feb. 24 in the H.B. Allen Library's Little Theater.
     Beverley Getzen, ACWC president, welcomed the winners; and Randy Tarlton and Kaye Ratliff, contest co-chairmen, presented the awards. The ceremony was followed by a reception for the winners and their friends and families.
     Winners of the grades 3-6 poetry contest were: first place, Kaylee Lomax, Ansonville Elementary, "Spirit Renewed;" and second Place, Sakinah Scott, Ansonville Elementary, "The Opposite."
     Prose winners were: first place, Taylor Burr, Ansonville Elementary, "The New Baby;" second place, Dexter Jones, Wadesboro Primary School, "Getting to Know a Veteran;" and third place, Raheem Wall, Wadesboro Primary School, "A Special Day."

     Aaliyah Escalera, Anson High School, won first place in the poetry division for students in grades 10-12 with her poem, "Master Plan."
     Winners of the 10-12 prose division were: Cynthia Wiersum, first place for her short story, "Tahlula;" and Amelia Burr, second place for her short story, "Lil' Mermaid." Both are students at Anson New Technology High School.
     Kaye N. Ratliff of Wadesboro won the adult poetry divison with "Wandering." Second place winner was Dorothy Morrison of Marshville with "Alma Mater;" and Elizabeth Ann Allen won third place with "Autumn Trees and Change."
     Karen MacMurray of Monroe took first place in the adult prose division with her short story, "The Long Remember."
     The ACWC held the first contests in 1989 and the first awards ceremony in 1990 as part of the club's mission to foster the art of writing in Anson County.