Two members of the school community wrote winning entries for a local writing contest offered by the Cedarburg Public Library. 

Junior Ellie Lisiecki won in the high school category, and Writing Center teacher Deb Krygiel won in the adult category. 

The Cedarburg Writes Contest was part of a program which was created to connect neighbors and form relationships by reading and discussing stories together. The Cedarburg Friends of the Library sponsored the contest. The theme of the short stories was friendship. 

Lisiecki’s short story, “Post Office Collection Box,” features three separate letters to the narrator’s friends: Katherine, Safiyah and Leo. 

“I enjoy writing letters to people, so I thought why not write about what I love doing?” Lisiecki said. “I just thought about what I would say to my friends in a real letter, but I changed all of their names.” 

Krygiel’s short story, “The Power of Showing Up,” is about a grumpy old man named Arthur whose friends show up for him when he needs it most.

Krygiel and Lisiecki received their Certificates of Appreciation and prize money at a celebratory event at the Cedarburg Cultural Center alongside the middle school winner, Heather Hilgendorf, and the grade school winner, Emerson Grunwald.

The writing competition was open to all Ozaukee County residents and was divided into age-based categories: grades 3-6, middle school students, high school students and adults. Writers submitted an original selection of fiction, nonfiction, or a memoir with a maximum of 1,000 words. 

The prize money was $50 for the adult and high school winners and $25 for grades 3-6 and middle school students.

Read the winning entries: 

“The Power of Showing Up” by Deb Krygiel 

“Post Office Collection Box” by Ellie Lisiecki