An adolescent girl encounters a predator. …Two young men endure a trip to disaster. …A teenager undergoing physical therapy gets a lesson in humanity. …A traveler witnesses dysfunction in a Romanian town.
The winners of this year’s Short Story & Essay Contests all share something in common: They each depict the difficulties and rewards of human interactions.
More than 100 adults and more than 60 high school students entered the short story contest, and 150 adults and 50 high school students entered the essay contest. The winners of the contests, which were sponsored by Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Urban Partnership, were awarded cash prizes ranging from $50 to $500 each at the Bethesda Literary Festival in April. Their stories appear on the pages that follow.
