Organized by Jennifer Colby and Christopher Erickson, the River Rat Writing Prize is a competition opportunity for Huron students to get their piece published in the Huron digital literary magazine and win monetary rewards. The amount of money awarded varies on placement with $100 for first place, $50 for runner ups, $20 for honorable mentions, $20 for the 9th grade rising writer award and $20 for the student choice award. 

Writers and non-writers from current Huron students of all grades are encouraged to submit. It can come in various writing formats including flash fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, nonfiction essay, drama and poetry. 

The 2021 winner, senior Ari Yaffe-Inoue reflected on his experience with the River Rat Writing Prize. 

“It was extremely easy to submit a piece for the prize, and furthermore, I was able to submit a piece that I had already written,” Yaffe-Inoue said. “I’d say that the prize impacted me in a positive way. The most obvious one is the prize money, which is obviously nice to have, and also it provides you with more exposure as a writer among your peers.”

Not only are the goals of this competition to allow students to emphasize their writing abilities to instructors and receive prizes for their recognition, but to “encourage and foster creative writing within the Huron community by celebrating the exceptional writing of current students.”

“I would say that if you have time to write something or if you already have something written, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t submit something,” Yaffe-Inoue said. “There can only be positive outcomes from it.”

For more information, visit the River Rat Writing Prize Website