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Springwood School boasts the statewide winner of the AISA Creative Writing competition. Emma Hudmon has always had a knack for writing but her skill was proven this year when she won the state competition in creative writing in her tenth-grade year. 

Hudmon said she didn’t even realize it was a statewide competition until she got home from school and talked to her mom. 

Though it may have come as a surprise, it’s not the first time Hudmon has been recognized for her writing. She won the schoolwide English award last year.

“Which was, again, unexpected,” she said.

Last semester, Springwood students in grades 3-10 worked on creative writing pieces for a school and statewide contest as a part of AISA. Many students, including Hudmon, advanced to the state competition. The students in the other grade categories were Kasper Key (grades 3-5), Ashlyn Sorrells (grades 6-8) and Carson Cooper (grades 11-12). 

Hudmon said the contest asked her to write a 250-word essay with the prompt “I’m glad you called.” 

“It was like a person has been trying to reach another person for a really long time over the phone. Why is this person trying to get to them so bad? And what do they want?” Hudmon said, explaining where her character’s motivation came from.

Inspired by her love of gothic and horror literature, she wrote a story about someone calling a book collector about an old Latin book that has begun to show supernatural qualities. 

Hudmon’s English teacher, Sarah Sands, said that the young writer has a gift for all writing but especially her narrative and poetry writing, something she suspects comes from the extensive reading she does. 

“She just has a knack for writing,” Sands said. “And in her narrative, she’s really good at getting the descriptions and the dialogue. She’s really good at creating pace and character development … [She has] a very good possibility for a career in writing, so we’re proud of her.” 

Hudmon gave a lot of credit to the encouragement that she had from her middle school English teacher, Marie Ward. She said Ward always kept an active interest in her reading and writing pursuits. 

“It’s a testament to the teachers she said before. She had some phenomenal supports all through her middle school grades,” Sands said. “Because [Ward] is just such an excellent writing teacher, I think she really cultivated that love that Emma had.”

If she’s not working on her creative endeavors, Hudmon can be found reading. She said she loves brushing up on the classics in the horror section, her favorite being H.P. Lovecraft. Sands said Hudmon is a great role model for her classmates in that way. She is also open to talking to her classmates and teachers about anything that she’s reading. 

Hudmon’s other creative pursuits include art and theater. When she graduates, she hopes to continue pursuing creative opportunities like animation or graphic design. 

However, in the meantime, she has not been idle. Hudmon has an idea for a children’s story about a little ghost called Not So Scary Nick. Sands said she has encouraged Hudmon to continue honing her skills and has promised to help her pursue publishing opportunities.

“If we get the children’s book, we’ll try to figure out how we can get it in the right people’s hands and see where it can go,” Sands said. “You never know.”