The Effingham County Board of Education is pleased to announce the district winners for the Young Georgia Authors’ Competition. Each of these young, talented writers was a first place winner for their grade level, school and then within the First District RESA, which includes 18 counties in Georgia. Listed below are the names of each district winner followed by their winning story or poem:

Briana Riggs, 3rd grade, Guyton Elementary: “The Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest”

Once there was a boy named Jeremy. Jeremy was a country boy. After school each day, he helped his dad on the farm. Jeremy also enjoyed riding horses, going hunting, and going to tractor pulls in his spare time. There was one other thing that was important to him, his friends. Jeremy and his friends were always doing things together.

One day on the way to school with his friends, Zack, Leigh Ann, and Kristen, they saw a sign advertising the local county fair, which would be held at the end of the month. They all talked about the fun they could have going to it together. But the girls said, “No Way! We’ve already got plans to go to the Hannah Montana movie. We are not going to miss it because the theater is only showing it seven times. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Jeremy said, “You two girls can go but we are going to the fair. Hannah Montana is for girls!”

It wasn’t long before the county fair came to town. Opening night, the boys went to the fair. They rode all the rides and played the games. They had a great time. On their way out they saw a sign that said, “Watermelon seed spitting contest to be held on Friday night at 7 p.m. Every one is welcome to participate.” The boys got excited about the contest. Jeremy said, “Wouldn’t that be fun! Zack, let’s practice and enter the contest.” Zach replied, “Count me in. You know country boys like to spit.”

So for the next few days instead of their usual plans, the two boys practiced for hours spitting watermelon seeds and anything else that they could find to spit. They couldn’t wait for Friday night. Each boy knew that he could be champion of spitting seeds.

The boys were at the fair when it opened. Again they rode rides, played games, and waited eagerly for the contest to begin. As the time got closer, Jeremy and Zack went over to the stage to enter the contest. The announcer asked for all contestants to come up on the stage. Some were young and some were old. They lined up and the seed spitting began. Seeds flew everywhere!

The boys did not know that their friends Leigh Ann and Kristen were in the crowd. They were about to be in for a big surprise! The girls saw the sign about the watermelon seed spitting contest. Kristen said to Leigh Ann, “I think I am going to try that.” Leigh Ann said, “Why? You’ve never done that before!” Kristen asked, “How hard can it be?” Kristen stepped up to the end of the line for seed spitting. When it came her turn, she spit her seed so far that everyone stood up and cheered. Wow! Kristen was the winner! The boys were in shock.

After the contest, the boys asked the girls why they came. Kristen said, “We decided to come because we thought being together with our friends was more important than any movie.” The boys then said, “Let’s go get some ice cream.”

Scott Gribbs, 4th grade, Ebenezer Elementary: “The Missing Goldfish”

Do you like fish? Well, if so then I have a great mystery to tell you about the missing class pet. See if you can solve this case as fast as I did.

It was an early Monday morning on the 6th day of October. Mrs. Ortiz walked into the room with our class pet, which by the way is a Japanese Goldfish. This goldfish is very special because it originally belonged to Mrs. Kight, our principal. We all watched Mrs. Ortiz place the fish on the shelf. She had a strange look on her face. Suddenly Mrs. Ortiz says, “Class line up to go to the library.” We all did, but we wondered why because this wasn’t the normal time to go.

After we came back from the library, a terrible thing happened. The fish was gone. I knew I had to figure out who committed the crime. I started asking questions to the other students because several left during our library time. The people who left were Landon, Austin, Mason, Chris, Trent, and of course, Mrs. Ortiz. After I questioned those that left this is what I discovered. I found out that Trent and Chris went back to the room to get their library books. Mason and Austin went back to the room to turn the air off. Landon went back to put a paper on his desk. So that left Mrs. Ortiz. All the students I questioned said that the fish was there when they went into the room. I began to wonder why my teacher would take the fish, so I had to ask.

I approached Mrs. Ortiz and asked, “Did you take the fish?” She said, “I was so hungry I just had to get something to eat.” She also said that she knew breakfast was over and that the quickest thing she could find to eat was the fish. I also kind of figured it out because Mrs. Ortiz always says how she likes to eat sushi. Mrs. Ortiz felt horrible for what she had done, so she promised to buy the class a new fish and the class issued her detention for six weeks.

Yep! Another mystery has been solved. Did you figure it out as fast as I did? After I entered this story in the “Best Mystery” contest, you’ll never believe what I won… a year’s supply of goldfish crackers!