{Preface{ This twelfth Young Southern Student Writers contest is sponsored by the Arts & Education Council and the Department of English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Board and staff members from the Arts & Education Council, under the guidance of Executive Director, Susan Robinson, deserve our thanks for their generosity and for their support of this area's outstanding young writers. Laurel Eldridge and Ann Johnson, in particular, were essential to the success of this year's contest. I am grateful for their help and their guidance. I would also like to thank our dedicated teachers, K-12, who encouraged their students to submit entries. Likewise, I thank the faculty of the Department of English at UTC who served as readers/judges this year. Their participation and assistance this year was crucial. And a very special thanks goes to Paige Broussard, my graduate assistant, who spent countless hours scanning and formatting the winning entries for this online booklet. Without her dedication and tireless work, this booklet simply would not exist. Finally, I should thank Brewer Media and the staff at The Pulse. This booklet is the result of the dedicated and hard work the staff and interns at The Pulse. More than 5,000 students from schools in the Chattanooga area, as well as schools from north Georgia and Alabama, submitted entries this year. While we have tried very hard to make sure all entries are accurate, there will be mistakes. Some of those mistakes are original to the entries; other mistakes may simply be the result of scanning and digitizing the winning submissions. If errors appear because of this process, I apologize. Otherwise, read and enjoy! This was an especially strong year of quality submissions from our young Southern writers. Keep up the good work, teachers and students alike!
Joe Wilferth, Chair 2012 Young Southern Student Writers UC Foundation Assoc. Professor and Department Head University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
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