By Justen Turner-Thorne

The Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest was created to pay tribute to the Director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Ralph W. Munn. The contest focused on the artistic and creative writing abilities of teens. There were five categories that teens could enter their works in: short prose, poetry, screenwriting, and cover art. The entrees that won would get a chance to have their work published in a anthology book, a collection of creative writing written by teens. The numerous amount of entrees were carefully judged by members of the Carnegie Library.

The winners of the Ralph Munn Creative Contest were invited to a special red carpet event called the Teen Media Awards. Alongside the Ralph Munn contest, the Labs held their award ceremony as well. Awards were given to first and second place entrees. The winners entrees were given copies of the Creative Writing Anthology book and were asked to come up on stage to read a preview of their writing to the audience. The guest speaker for the night was also happened to be a guest judge, Siobhan Vivian. Ms. Vivian is an author that writes novels for young adults. After the award ceremony, she gave out free copies of her new book, “The List” along with autographs.

Students were able to network and discuss their thoughts with different Carnegie members. Siobhan Vivian shared personal feedback to each of the Ralph Munn winners.