Here Are Your 2025 Mays Writing Winners!

Congratulations to this year's Mays Writing Contest winners! 

Every year, students in 1st - 12th grade participate in the May’s Writing Contest, our school-wide annual fiction-writing competition.

This year’s prompt asked students to tap into their creative side and design their own prompt. Students chose different creative elements from a story chart to create their own unique piece of fiction. Even though some stories featured the same elements, each writer, with her unique voice, crafted her own individual story. 

Mays winners are published in the Mays Magazine curated by Belles Lettres, St. Mary's student-run literary magazine. This year Belles Lettres staff judged the contest for Lower and Middle School, while Upper School had a special guest judge. Maria Zoccola '11, poet and 2025 Louise T. Archer Artist-in-Residence, lent her expertise to the selection process. 

See the full list of students recognized for their work below: 

1st Grade
Greer Lieberman, 1st place, "DaArcade Monster"
Winn Talbot, Honorable Mention, "The Little Girl"
Noora Morrison, Honorable Mention, "The Mystery of the Arcade"

2nd Grade
Gibby Carlson, 1st place, "Susan and the Monster"
Evangeline Word, Honorable Mention, "The Enchanted Forest"
Elizabeth Andring, Honorable Mention, "The Spell Test"

3rd Grade
Jayne Clair Berardi, 1st place, "The Child and the Monster"
Lila Jensen, Honorable Mention, "Wipe Out"
Walks Ruhland, Honorable Mention, "Clarices’s New Home"

4th Grade
Julia Richmond, 1st place, "The Pencil"
Bella Hooks, Honorable Mention, "The Gauntlet of Courage"
Ari Hooks, Honorable Mention, "The Courageous Ones"

5th Grade
Mary Brooks Morgan, 1st place, "Success"
Heloise Humphreys, Honorable Mention, "The Climb"
Afsa Aman, Honorable Mention, "The Worst Field Trip Ever"

6th Grade
Janie McDonald, 1st place, "Tug on a Leash"
Weezie Worley, Honorable Mention, "Vivi's Soil"
Francis Holman, Honorable Mention, "Bri’s Skis"

7th Grade
Eleanor Parr, 1st place, "The Jackalope"
Samantha Do, Honorable Mention, "Sara and the Monster"
Jeannie Xu, Honorable Mention, "Finding Light Between the Broken Pieces"

8th Grade
Carter Visinsky 1st place, "The Little Things"
Seaton Edmonds, Honorable Mention, "Roar of Redemption"
Ellie Kate Davis, Honorable Mention, "The Loka"

9th Grade
Stella Hamilton, 1st place, "Lookout"
Mayra Arshad, Honorable Mention, "Untitled"
Mathilde Wesson, Honorable Mention, "Untitled"

10th Grade
Louise Lawhead, 1st place, "The Price of Freedom"
Esme Larschan, Honorable Mention, "The Monster in the Woods"
Lucy Lyon, Honorable Mention, "Know Your Place"

11th Grade
McNaron Gray, 1st place, "Monster Bait"
Celine Kim, Honorable Mention, "The Lion, the Mountains, and Quinn"
Stephanie Chen, Honorable Mention, "The Heart of the Forest"

12th Grade
Kim Huang, 1st place, "Broken Heart"
Selin Hepvar, Honorable Mention, "A Cafeteria Adventure"
Ali Barton, Honorable Mention, "Untitled"

We were honored to have members of the Mays family join us in Chapel to celebrate this year’s winners. Thank you to Bethany Mays Owen ’93 and Mary Austin Mays Smith ’03 for helping recognize each student as they received their award at the front of the sanctuary. This contest would not be possible without the Mays family’s support.