Contact: NOVEC Communications, 703-335-0500, communications@novec.com
MANASSAS, Va. – The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) sent out the call and young writers answered. Twenty-five children between the ages of 5 and 13 made electricity the hero of their original stories. Their creativity and imaginations ran wild, and NOVEC even received some bonus content — illustrations to accompany the masterpieces.
Judges chose a story by Vincent Torres, 8, from Oakton, in the 5- to 9-year-old division as their favorite. A sample from “The Electric Sword” reads: “Darkness says, ‘I need to get that electric sword.’ Darkness looks like a silhouette of a person. Darkness has a scheme. He will take out the light in the world and put it in a bag in his lair. His lair is hidden in another world. Darkness tries to use a lasso to take the electric sword from Tim. All that happens is Darkness grabs a bag of Cheetos.”
In the 10- to 13-year-old division, Kennedy Tesga Woldearegay, 11, from Montclair was the winner. Kennedy’s “Circuit of Fate” reads: “Max became the city’s youngest superhero. Armed with a soldering iron and a backpack full of Pop-Tarts, Max rewired lamp posts into ultra amazing neon disco balls (okay, not really, but it would’ve been epic)! The mayor sent robot enforcers (metallic poodles with laser eyes) to chase Max.”
NOVEC awarded 9-year-old Brendan Payne of Haymarket an honorable mention because he went above and beyond the assignment to create a comic book version of his story, “Electro Man!”
Winners received a gift card to Barnes & Noble and some NOVEC-themed goodies.
Judges said that all the stories were fun to read. In the 5- to 9-year-old division, 9-year-old Akilan Prasanna of Aldie wrote about Prince Cevon (NOVEC spelled backward), in a story called “The Thunder Throne.”
“Cevon threw his shoes on and said ‘Zap! Blap! Make me go fast!’ boosting out of the house to a far-out mountain. He grunted and ran in a few circles and out of all his fingers came a bright blue electricity which formed a portal to the most unreachable place on Earth, New Volt Kingdom. There, a group called the Lighters produced electricity for the world!”
Luke Gulick, 10, of Warrenton, wrote about Super Electricity Boy, who saved the mayor from the bottom of a cliff when the power grid went down. “Once he saved the mayor, he asked, ‘Why did you fall in the first place?’
“He replied, ‘So a 10-year-old boy could enter in the NOVEC youth writing contest.’ ” •
Click on the students’ names to read all the stories from NOVEC’s Youth Writing Contest:
Akilan Prasanna, 9 years old, Aldie
Allison Van Horne, 6 years old, Aldie
Amelia Rangel, 11 years old, Bristow
Ananya Bhatia, 7 years old, Brambleton
Brendan Payne, 9 years old, Haymarket
Brooke Coulter, 11 years old, Manassas
Caroline Van Horne, 9 years old, Aldie
Charity Mabe, 13 years old, Woodbridge
Erica Vela, 10 years old, Sterling
Faith Hilgart, 11 years old, Clifton
Gabriella Clevenger, 10 years old, South Riding
Kay Li Cheah, 9 years old, Gainesville
Kennedy Tsega Woldearegay, 11 years old, Montclair
Leah Young, 5 years old, Centreville
Leni Woodson, 6 years old, Manassas
Luke Gulick, 10 years old, Warrenton
Meha Seshan, 12 years old, Ashburn
Neri Hilgart, 9 years old, Clifton
Penelope Jolley, 7 years old, Manassas
Rajeshwari Banerjee, 8 years old, Aldie
Riley Aiken, 11 years old, Bristow
Saisana Ezhilan, 5 years old, Aldie
Sophia Matthews, 11 years old, Bristow
