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 Georgia’s First District RESA, which includes 18 counties.

Listed below is the name of one of the three district winners followed by the winning poem:

Casie Wilson, 6th grade, Effingham County Middle School: “Words Alone”
Everyday you have a choice,
To hold your tongue or lift your voice.
From life’s first cry to final breath,
We reach for something when there’s nothing left.
Words are more than words alone;
They are soft and sweet, and hard as stone;
Or simple and true, or very complex.
Or just what you are about to say next.
Words can comfort, or can hurt,
Or be as bland as dirt.
Through words you can free the mind,
Or with your words, you can find
A whole new world, or a brand new friend.
Or even travel to the Earth’s end.
With your words, you can build a town,
Or with your words, tear it down.
So with our voices, we shout aloud,
For our words are much more than sound.