A dozen IDEAS Academy writers attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater High School Creative Writing Festival November 20 to either share their writing or participate in workshops. One of them, Taylor Gebert, earned a third place award for her piece, “Untitled“, in the category of Fan Fiction/Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

Manuscripts were sent to UWW in mid-October. Professional writers read the works and provided written feedback. Then, at the Festival, the students read their work to small audiences and heard feedback from both peers and the professional writer who facilitated the discussion. Fifty-minute workshops occurred throughout the day with four or five student writers featured in each.

The favorite part of the Festival for Kelsey Fick was “Just listening to other people’s work and hearing what other people are writing about.”

Students also took part in an Open Mic in the afternoon, a casual chance to share songs, slam, stories, and poems to rounds of loud applause.

“The open mic was the best part,” Fick said.

Miranda Kelm entered her work in the poetry category.

“Being more confident in your writing and being more confident in general,” are a couple of the benefits of being part of the Festival,” Kelm said. “It’s your own thing. You created it!”

About 600 writers from Wisconsin and Illinois attended the Festival, which is in its 28th year. The next Festival will be held Wednesday, November 19, 2014.