California Writers Club, Mt Diablo Branch

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You are here: Home / Winners of the 2026 Young Writers Contest

Winners of the 2026 Young Writers Contest

Poetry 6th Grade   Poetry 7th Grade   Poetry 8th Grade
1st Place:   1st Place:   1st Place:
Clara Mas, The Pigeon         Vibha Vyas, Autopsy of a Silence   Olivia MacDiarmid, 13
Prospect Sierra School, El Cerrito   Pine Valley Middle School, San Ramon   Orinda Middle School, Orinda       
Teacher: Daniel Chanin   Teacher: Brittany Benedetto   Teacher: Terry Eubanks
2nd Place:   2nd Place:   2nd Place:
Irene Seok, Dreams   Audrey Joaquin, The Prettiest Dying Bouquet        

Shreya Aman, Becoming Me

Prospect Sierra School, El Cerrito   Valley View Middle School, Pleasant Hill  

Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon

Teacher: Kristin Stringfield   Teacher: Jennifer Martin      Teacher: Melinda Gallegos
3rd Place:   3rd Place:   3rd Place:
Liyana Abbasi, Iridescent and Pearlescent       Lev Rabinovitch, A Man in the Rain   Centerfold, Never Centered
Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon             Fred T. Korematsu Middle School, El Cerrito   Gale Ranch Middle School, San Ramon
Teacher: Deborah Robinson   Teacher: Maw Shein Win   

Teacher: Angela Valdez

         
Personal Narrative 6th Grade   Personal Narrative 7th Grade   Personal Narrative 8th Grade
1st Place:   1st Place:   1st Place:
Akshara Acharya, The Voice That Said I Could   Saachi Choradia, The Page   Sahana Datla, The Ring She Left Behind
Gale Ranch Middle School, San Ramon                  Pine Valley Middle School, San Ramon   Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon
Teacher: Lauren Geche   Teacher: Jayashree Sheth   Teacher: Melinda Gallegos
         
2nd Place:   2nd Place:   2nd Place:
Anisha Padhy, Brave Enough?    Oliver Lai, The Way The Stones Sink              Julia Alface, Still Me
Gale Ranch Middle School, San Ramon           Dorris-Eaton School, Walnut Creek   Seven Hills School, Walnut Creek
Teacher: Lauren Geche   Teacher: Sydney Maxwell     Teacher: Julie Scarpelli
         
3rd Place:   3rd Place:   3rd Place:
Kaia Román, Running With the Wind           Jasmine Atkinson, Blazing A Trail of Courage  

Ian Chong, The Last Shot

Prospect Sierra School, El Cerrito      Orinda Middle School, Orinda   Orinda Middle School, Orinda
Teacher: Daniel Chanin   Teacher: Suzy Kisch  

Teacher: Michelle Meyers

Short Story 6th Grade   Short Story 7th Grade   Short Story 8th Grade
1st Place:   1st Place:   1st Place:
Liyana Abbasi, Daughter of Light and Dark     Abigail Tran, The Secret Ingredient   Shreya Aman, Ordinary Chaos
Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon   Iron Horse Middle School, San Ramon  

Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon

Teacher: Deborah Robinson   Teacher: Kathleen Johnson   Teacher: Melinda Gallegos
         
2nd Place:   2nd Place:   2nd Place:
William Qian, The Interesting Case   Annie Li, A Final Wish  

Why You Don’t Trust YouTube

Dorris-Eaton School, Walnut Creek   Dorris-Eaton School, Walnut Creek   Gale Ranch Middle School, San Ramon
Teacher: Sydney Maxwell   Teacher: David Vela  

Teacher: Angela Valdez

         
3rd Place:   3rd Place:  

3rd Place:

Helena Schwager, Bound Beneath the Tide   Chloe Jeon, Aus der Traum (The Dream is Over)  

Effie Yin, Caramel Lollipops

Pine Valley Middle School, San Ramon   Windemere Ranch Middle School, San Ramon            

Doris-Eaton School, Walnut Creek

Teacher: Marie Stellman       Teacher: Nicole Nishihira  

Teacher: Sydney Maxwell

Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight – Michael Barrington Launches His New Book “Colourblind: A Travesty of Justice”
Member Spotlight – Michael Barrington Launches His New Book “Colourblind: A Travesty of Justice”

Click here to view more Spotlights or if you have a writing Spotlight to share with us.

Upcoming Programs

  • May 9, 2026, Three-Minute Flash Fiction and Writers Tables: choose from 6 topics. (This meeting is at the Pleasant Hill Community Center)
  • June 13, 2026, David Hakim: Poetry in Its Many Forms

Our Meeting Schedule and Location

General Meetings are held the second Saturday of each month, except July and August.
Location:
The Pleasant Hill Senior Center
233 Gregory Lane
Pleasant Hill, CA
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Optional post-meeting events until 1:30. Bring your lunch!
Our meetings are open to the public. See the Meetings and Workshops page to register. 

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Writers need each other! Click to Join.

 

Newsletter and Social Media

The Write Newsletter, May 2026


The Back Fence: Our Members-Only Facebook Group

 

CWC Statewide

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Critique Group


CLICK HERE for information about our Critique Groups and how to join.

 

Our Community Partners

Reasonable Books for partner
Reasonable Books for partner
Art Embraces Words
Art Embraces Words
Our Community Partners
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CWC Mt. Diablo Branch, P.O. Box 606, Alamo, CA 94507

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