When Connect for Kids launched its first essay contest earlier this summer, it quickly became clear that we needed some experienced help. DC Writers Corps executive director Kenneth Carroll stepped up to the challenge, fielding a panel of talented young writers to work through the responses we received to our invitation to teens to "Speak Out! Let Your Voice Be Heard."

The Judging Process

Kenneth helped us design a thoughtful process for the youth essay judging. After CFK staff went through the essays and checked for minimum requirements (age and correct word counts), we gave each of the four judges a package of the qualifying essays. Their task was to grade each, based on a set of writing guidelines. After this step was completed, the four judges (Kenneth, Isaac, David, and Carenda) met with CFK staff and made their final four choices.

The discussion was rich with solid literary criticism: "It fell apart at the end; the essayist didn't support his arguments." "I'm very impressed with the word play." "This essay feels incomplete; I can't identify the thesis statement." "This is a classic essay format."

For Isaac, judging came down to structure and the use of language. David looked for a sense of self in the writing, rather than a detached perspective. Carenda wanted consistency in the writing and appreciated the amount of research that some essays contained. And throughout the judging process, Kenneth reminded the judges of the various elements of good writing. As executive director of DC Writers Corp, Kenneth dedicates a good deal of his time working with young writers on just such matters.

But in the end, it was the ability of the four young writers to use the essay structure to make the connection between their personal lives and public policy that won over our judges. "This writer is taking a chance and showing courage." "This one had strong conclusions; it made me think, which is what good writing is supposed to do." "Good first-person element in the writing that brings the policy back to the personal level."

Connect for Kids thanks the young writers who submitted their essays and our terrific panel of judges. We hope you enjoy reading the four winning essays throughout the rest of August. They will appear on the CFK homepage on August 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.

Youth Judges

DC Writers Corps has been working since 1994 to encourage students in the city's public schools to read and write outside the classroom. Director Kenneth Carroll identified a few of his protégés to perform the task of judging the essays.

Isaac M. Colon III is 21 years old and majors in film and video at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois. He is a graduate of D.C.'s acclaimed Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He has performed at the White House, the State Department, the Kennedy Center and in numerous other venues. Isaac has been published in the Washington Post Magazine and in a number of poetry anthologies, including the Writers Corps' anthology Paint Me Like I am, published by Harper Collins. Isaac is now a student coordinator for DC Writers Corps and a member of the National Youth Arts Development board where he has represented the U.S. at the International Youth Arts Conference in London, England.

Isaac has also taught Visual Arts for Inner City youth in Boston at Artist for Humanities as well as in Chicago for the Gear-Up Program in conjunction with Columbia College. Isaac is also a former member of Soul y Soul's Spoken Resistance troupe, which won the D.C. mayor's arts award. Isaac also teaches at CentroNia, (formerly Calvary Bilingual) and has consulted with D.C. Parks and Recreation and Fairfax County Public Middle Schools.

Carenda Tillery is 17 years old and a recent graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Matriculating in the Literary Media Arts Department, she was vice-president of the Class of 2005. Carenda also served as the features editor of Ellington's school newspaper The Green Chair, and co-editor of the school's yearbook staff. She participates in the Schiff Scholars Program at Georgetown University. Through this program, Carenda has traveled to Belize, Central America, Mexico, and to each coast to research schools, colleges and universities. She is a host and panelist at WPFW 89.3 FM 2kNation teen radio show, and she has been featured poet on several occasions at Starbucks and WHUR 96.3 FM.

Through the DC Writers Corps' youth apprentice program, Carenda goes into the D.C. Public Schools as an intern, working with middle school youth on writing workshops and poetry programs. She will attend North Carolina A & T State University and will major in mass communications.

David Adams is 17 years old and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He will begin his senior year at St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, D.C. this fall. An aspiring writer, David is looking to submit his work in various literary magazines. He attended a two-week writing workshop this summer at the University of Virginia, where he focused on fiction. His interest in writing began when he was in the 6th grade and he writes every day.