The Boise School District in 2006 approved a proposal by Capital City Communicators to conduct an annual writing contest in the ninth-grade class of one school per year in the fall, and prizes were awarded recently to this year’s winners.

During the first four years of the competition, students at Les Bois Junior High, North Junior High, Fairmont Junior High, and Riverglen Junior High submitted essays on “Why Communication is Important,” the same subject for this year’s competition among East Junior High ninth graders.

“This contest is a good fit for the Boise School District’s ninth-grade students, most of whom are taking speech,” said Stephanie Youngerman, the district’s supervisor of education services. “The competition validates the idea of the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and gives the students an excellent opportunity to display their skills.”

Winners this year are Gold Award recipients Carson Mondada and Jerica Schlachter, Silver Award recipients Emily Bodden, Michelle Fretwell, Maeve McGuire, and Paige Raudenbush, and Bronze Award recipient Jake Felzien. In addition to certificates recognizing their achievement, students received cash prizes of $100 for Gold, $50 for Silver, and $25 for Bronze.

Carson and Jerica read their essays at the CCC Christmas luncheon Dec. 14 with their parents and speech teacher Linda Byron in attendance.

According to contest originator and CCC board member David Cuoio, there seemed to be a correlation this year between being a good writer and being a singer.

“Most of the writing winners are also in the choir,” he said. “Not sure what that means, if anything, but it makes this story a little more interesting.”