New Hope-Solebury 9th-Grader Wins Bucks County Short Fiction Contest

NEW HOPE, PA — A ninth-grade student at New Hope-Solebury High School will take home the top prize in the spring 2022 Bucks County Short Fiction Contest for High School Students.

A New Hope resident, Maria Kesisoglou won for her short story "Cat's Cradle." The tale is a supernatural horror story, the majority of its plot unfolding in the form of a voicemail on an answering machine in an empty house.

Joseph Shakely, a professor in Bucks County Community College's Department of Laguage and Literature, applauded Kesisoglou's "deft handling of characterization" and ability to craft "a growing sense of dread."

"The meaning of the title, too, becomes clear with that ending and provides a chilling metaphor to make the story linger in the reader’s mind,” he wrote.

Shakely was the final judge in the contest, which the community college funds.

Bethany Conover, a Holland resident and a sophomore at Council Rock South High School, took second place for her story, “What could have happened.” Adam Dombrowski, a sophomore at Pennsbury High School and a Morrisville resident, was awarded third place for his story, “No Chances.”

The winners' stories were selected out of 67 entries this year, according to a news release.

The winners will receive certificates and awards for $200, $100, and $50, respectively.

The winners will read from their works at a celebration at the college on Wednesday.

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