Forest Hills — Alex Oleszkiewicz admitted most of his writing is kept in his private files, with few people having seen his stories.
So having one published in an anthology is “very surreal,” said the Forest Hills Central sophomore.
Alex’s story, “Everlasting Sunflowers,” is a teen published finalist for the Kent District Library’s Write Michigan contest. He was one of three Forest Hills students — the only students from local public schools to place this year — whose stories earned top honors in the annual writing competition that had more than 1,000 entries.
‘It at least gives me the drive that I can accomplish things in this, and I can shoot for higher.’
— Alex Oleszkiewicz, Write Michigan teen finalist
Forest Hills Northern ninth-grader Ava Schmidt’s story, “Dust,” was a teen Judge’s Choice runner-up, and Central Middle School seventh-grader Evan Kaltz’s story, “The Oasis,” was a youth published finalist. All three stories appear in the 2026 KDL Write Michigan anthology.
Annual anthologies are available for checkout. A complete list of this year’s winners is here.
Winners were announced earlier this year, with KDL hosting a celebration in March for winners in the adult, teen and youth categories. That was where SNN caught up with Alex and Ava.
Alex said he has loved a good story since he was young.
“It’s just the thought that someone out there — anyone — could be entertained by it and maybe be somewhere else, somewhere that they want to be, as opposed to where they are right now,” he explained. “Maybe they just spend five, eight or 10 minutes there, and that’s probably the main reason why I write.”
Alex’s winning selection centers on a man who lives in an isolated area and becomes infected with a zombie-like disease from the sunflowers growing near his home.
Alex has submitted his work to the Write Michigan competition before, and has used judges’ feedback to improve his writing, he said.
“It at least gives me the drive that I can accomplish things in (writing), and I can shoot for higher,” Alex said about being named a published finalist.
Ava also has submitted to the Write Michigan competition in the past and said she was shocked to learn she had earned the Judge’s Choice runner-up award.
“My story is about war,” Ava said. “The whole premise was that there is not much description of the main character so that you can interpret it any way.”
Ava said her interest in writing began during the pandemic, when, after receiving a new computer, she had more time to hone her skills.
“I want to pursue this because now I know I’m good at it,” Ava said of being selected as a Judge’s Choice runner-up. “I really enjoyed it.”
Read more from Forest Hills:
• ‘Surreal moment’ as junior takes top spot in graphic novel contest
• Inspiring her peers to make time to make a difference
