CREAM OF THE CROP

A story by Tamera Pumphrey, a sophomore at Shadle High School, has been judged the best of 162 entries to win The Spokesman-Review’s 2006 Outdoor Writing Contest for high school students.

In “Gaining Confidence,” Pumphrey makes a stab at following her family on the downhill ski slopes.

Contest runners-up include:

“”Why We Went Camping Only Once,” an unabashed teenage analysis of a Northwest tradition, by Adam Schultheis, a sophomore at Shadle;

“”Becoming a Centurion,” a boy’s bicycle journey toward manhood, by David Grunzweig, a sophomore at Lewis and Clark.

“”Reason for Hope,” a poem that captures the essence of the hunt, by Tucker Seitz, a senior at Central Valley.

Pumphrey will receive $75 for first place. Each of the runners-up will get $50.

The four finalists will be entered in the Outdoor Writers Association of America National Scholastic Writing Contest, which is open to any outdoor writing published in 2006 by junior high or high school students.

National winners, who can earn up to $300, will be announced next spring. In 20 years, 33 finalists from The Spokesman-Review contest have gone on to win national awards.

This year’s entries were judged by newspaper editors. The winning entries once again have been illustrated on this page by Spokane Valley artist Dale Hamilton, a graduate of Central Valley High School.

Other students who made the final round of judging this year include:

Elizabeth Wilke of Cheney High School; Brad Humphrey, Elizabeth Koch, Joshua Millet and Ivan Vasyukhnevich of Ferris; Lindsay Moore of Lake City (Coeur d’Alene); Lucas Brown, Lillian Dubiel, Rachel Kahn, Kyle Musselwhite, Lauren Price, Pat Quigley, Kelsi Swenson and Dylan Wu of Lewis and Clark; Jessica Wendt of North Central; Brian Clark of Shadle; Nate Hutchens of University; and Casey Thomas, a home-schooler from Post Falls.

The newspaper contest is announced in the fall.