Summit Academy Akron Middle School student writers made every word count in their series of mini sagas. Title1/MTSS teacher Tasha Hunter submitted students’ 100-word pieces to the 2025 Young Writers Stranger Sagas writing competition. Works by 58 of the school’s 60-plus students were selected as winners. Their sagas are published in the Stranger Sagas: Where Mystery Meets Creativity book, to be released Monday, Feb. 16.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my students for not only being selected for publication but for the hard work they put in and wanting to impress me with their ideas and final output,” says Hunter.
The contest challenged students ages 11-18 to apply their creativity, vocabulary and imagination as they composed sagas about something strange, mysterious or unusual. The Summit Academy Akron Middle School students’ winning submissions are among the 65 percent of all entries selected for publication, according to Archie Palmer of Young Writers®, which promotes poetry and creative writing within schools.
“Doing this helped me learn to structure my writing, develop a plot and learn how to edit,” says eighth-grade student Madalyn Reed whose saga, “The Doll,” will be published in the book. An avid reader, Reed describes the writing exercise as “really cool and fun.”
Hunter integrated the competition into a schoolwide assignment. She says interest expressed by students who had participated in previous years sparked the idea of involving the entire sixth- to eight-grade student body. “The activity was such a success with my sixth graders last year that, now in seventh grade, they were eager to participate again.”
Working collaboratively over the course of two weeks, the students pitched ideas, discussed ways to create mood and tone in their pieces and offered one another editing suggestions.
Pierce Lytle, a seventh grader who won last year’s competition, drew inspiration from Scooby-Doo-style mysteries when writing his winning 2025 submission, “The Evil Castle,” which features an unexpected ending.
“It’s [the saga] is less about evil and more about a natural event,” says Lytle, describing how he used themes hidden his text. His main character, an intern with a knack for science who works at a castle (known for its proximity to mysterious deaths), ultimately trips on a WWII landmine.
“I blame anime,” Lytle adds, joking about his writing influences.
Winning aside, Hunter says the competition helped students build their writing skills and realize a bounty of academic benefits.
“It helps build editing skills when doing essays for schoolwork or state testing,” she says. “It also builds students’ confidence in their writing capabilities and expand their vocabulary. You have to be selective in word choice. I love that they’re expressing their creativity while getting something academic out of it.”
The book is available for $24.99. To order a copy, call 323-244-4784 or email info@youngwritersusa.com.