This October, the Amador’s Writers Ensemble (AWE) is hosting its first ever Inktober writing competition. All high school and middle school students in Pleasanton is allowed to participate. Writers will work in groups of six to ten and submit 10 pieces of writing based off the Halloween prompts by October 23rd. The individual winner and overall group winner will have their work published in the Lighthouse Magazine.
“I think that you get to know more people and make connections with others that you normally wouldn’t have if you didn’t join the contest,” said Inktober participant Srushti Sentil (‘29).
Building a Creative Community
The contest emphasizes team-building and strengthening the writing community at Amador. The contest gives students a way to collaborate and improve their writing while cooperating with peers.
“We wanted to do something more hands-on and more involved for writers, especially because Amador is very a STEM-centric campus,” said president of AWE Bella Burns (‘26).
For many students, the contest also serves as a first opportunity to publish their work. Something the Amador Writers Ensemble tries to make less intimidating. They hope that this contest might help beginner writers improve and feel more comfortable sharing their work.
“I wasn’t that great of a writer when I first started out, but as I got more into it, that confidence increased. That’s when I started to really enjoy writing a lot more,” said AWE publicity officer Sanjana Salla (‘26).
Encouraging Originality and Imagination
The goal of the contest is not only to encourage creativity and community around campus, but also to combat the recent surge in AI use. This combats it by giving writers a creative outlet to publish their original work. The variety in prompts allow participants more creative freedom in what they choose to write about. Which can range from short stories to poems.
“I think the biggest challenge I expect to face is finding the inspiration to write it. The prompts are kind of short, so you need to really think about it to start writing,” said Srushti Sentil (‘29).
