Organizers of The Nature of Words have announced the winners of this years Rising Star Creative Writing Competition. The writing contest for high school- and college-age students is held in conjunction with the annual writing festival Nov. 5-9 in Bend.

The judges Neil Browne, Tracy Daugherty and George Venn plucked the winning entries from among more than 100 submissions in literary nonfiction, fiction and poetry.

Winners will be honored at a reception and reading Nov. 5 at Central Oregon Community Colleges Robert L. Barber Library, the opening event for the fourth-annual literary festival. Each first-place winner will receive a cash prize, a scholarship to one guest-author led workshop and a trophy.

Honorable mention winners will receive a gift certificate, and winning and honorable mention submissions will be published in an anthology available for purchase at festival venues, including the Tower Theatre and the High Desert Museum.

Prizes were awarded in the following categories:

Literary Nonfiction

Age 15 to 18 Category:

Winner: Mac Balder, Bend, Happy Shoes

Honorable Mention: Annie Brinich, Bend, Untitled

Age 19 to 25 Category:

Winner: Haley Poole, Kirkland, Wash., Breathing Injustice

Honorable Mention: Erica Dietz, Bend, On the Human Condition and Canning; Amanda L. Elliot, West Linn, The Crab Apple

Fiction

Age 15 to 18 Category:

Winner: Madeline Gobbo, Hood River, The Old Masters

Honorable Mention: Zoe Ballering, Portland, Grapes; Sangeeta Ranade, Bend, David; Alex Street, Boise, Idaho, Pike Street Alley

Age 19 to 25 Category:

Winner: Rachel Gallaher, Seattle, The Circus

Honorable Mention: Claire Carpenter, Corvallis, El Plain Air; Elizabeth Charles, Forest Grove, King Street Station

Poetry

Age 15 to 18 Category:

Winner: Eleanor Ellis, Salem, Figuratively

Honorable Mention: Karla Campos, Boise, Idaho, Where Im From; Rachel Sims, Sisters, New

Age 19 to 25 Category:

Winner: Kai Hoffman-Krull, Spokane, Wash., First Time at the Nursing Home

Honorable Mention: Caityln Moe, Eugene, Warming; Jamie Houghton, Bend, Searching for Champ