Julie Rohan and husband Ted have been
sponsoring a children’s writing contest
(in English) for the past two years. The
Brome Bright Lights Short Story Contest
for 2008 is open to children attending
Knowlton Academy, Heroes’ Memorial,
Butler Elementary, Farnham Elementary,
Sutton School and Mansonville Elementary.
Last year there were 60 entries and this
year 98 students submitted a short story for
consideration. The prizes (one for each grade)
include a cheque for $50, a certificate and
publication on the Brome Bright Lights website
at www.pivot.ca/bromebrightlights. In
addition, the overall winner gets a bonus of
$200 so the total prize money is $500. The
judges include myself and my husband,
Danny and Lucy McAuley of Brome Lake
Books, and a handful of other professionals in
the Knowlton/Sutton area.
After next year’s contest organizers are
planning to publish a little anthology with the
winning stories for the past three years.
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WINNER, GRADE 1
Title: Rainbow Girl
Student: Viktoria Morris, Sutton School
WINNER, GRADE 2
Title: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
Student: Bethanie Boivin, Sutton School
WINNER, GRADE 3
Title: The Magic Sword
Student: Cameron Fraser, Knowlton
Academy
WINNER, GRADE 4
Title: Ripped From The Sky
Student: Owen Teolis, Knowlton Academy
WINNER, GRADE 6
Title: The Last Trapper
Student: Zacharie Potvin Williams, Farnham
Elementary
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HONOURABLE MENTION, GRADE 1
Title: I Know the Easter Bunny
Student: Kelly Frendo, Knowlton Academy
HONOURABLE MENTION, GRADE 2
Title: Nobody’s Perfect
Student: Kathlyn Lipowski, Sutton School
HONOURABLE MENTION, GRADE 3
Title: The Bird’s Fruit
Student: Antonina Morris, Sutton School
HONOURABLE MENTION, GRADE 4
Title: Eliza on the Prairie
Student: Allison Lalla, Sutton School
HONOURABLE MENTION, GRADE 6
Title: The Power of Love
Student: Amanda Smart, Sutton School
JUDGES’ SPECIAL AWARD
(Illustrated Story)
Title: Moo the Cow
Student: Amelia La Haye, Grade 5,
Knowlton Academy
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SAMUEL BEATTIE,
 GRADE 5,
HEROES’ MEMORIAL
I was walking in an old western town in Missouri. The scent
of whisky was in the air, also the smell of sweaty men.
Then I heard the sound of hoof beats on the ground. Suddenly I
saw a horse drawn stagecoach with four men in it. They were all
shooting at innocent people.
Then the stagecoach started coming at me. So I jumped into an
empty whisky barrel to hide. It reeked of fourteen-day-old whisky. I
pushed out the bung to be able to see through the hole. The dust from
the stagecoach stung my eyes so I pulled my face away from the hole.
I didn’t see or hear the stagecoach.
There were several people lying on the ground. I sadly realized
they were dead. A minute before they had been walking on the street,
talking to each other, and now their lives had been taken from them.
I popped my head out of the barrel and looked around. Suddenly I
heard another gunshot and I felt a brisk breeze blow past my ear and
I heard the bullet ricochet. I jumped out of the barrel and ran into the saloon and shut the
door only to realize that I was in the saloon with a bunch of strange drunks, and Frank!
Frank James, the brother of Jesse James, one of the biggest scoundrels in the west!
I felt a gun poke my back. I slowly turned around to face whoever was behind me. It was
Jesse. He had pulled the gun from my back but kept it aimed at me. He didn’t look very
much like his posters. He was a tall man, about six feet tall. The posters didn’t capture the
look that his eyes had. It was a very peculiar look. It was evil and nice at the same time. I
could sense the intelligence behind the cold eyes.
Jesse snarled with an evil, yet playful grin. “This is your lucky day. I’ve killed enough
people so get out of here and go home.
I stammered, “ Okay.”
I started running and didn’t look back until I got home. It wasn’t until much later that I
realized how lucky I was to have lived. I was one of the few to have looked Jesse James in
the eyes and lived to tell the tale.
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