Read the Winning Entries From 2025’s Teen Writing Contest
It was another very successful year for our Teen Writing Contest with over 100 entries between the poetry and short story categories. We want to thank each and every teen who submitted their work to this year’s contest – your creativity and talent is always so impressive.
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
Short Story Winners 1st Place: Braelyn Rickard2nd Place: Lilly Pedrosa3rd Place: Brielle MatthiesRunner-Up: Rebekah EnebeliRunner-Up: Helen Duan
Poetry Winners 1st Place: Jasmine Dong2nd Place: Maryam Khattak3rd Place: Chloe Chris-AlutaRunner-Up: Priyanshi DokaniaRunner-Up: Nadia Radwan
You can now read the winner’s entries in our 2025 online edition of Inkling Magazine (Vol. 5).
Read Inkling (Vol. 5)
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Truth, Reconciliation and The Library’s Ongoing Work
Waterloo Public Library is located on the Haldimand Tract, land the Haudenosaunee have longstanding relationships with and rights to, recognized in the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation. Waterloo is within the ancestral territory of the Anishnaabe, Haudenosaunee and Chonnonton Peoples who cared for it for many generations before European settlement. We acknowledge the enduring presence and deep traditional knowledge and philosophies of the Indigenous Peoples with whom we share this land today.
Reconciliation with Indigenous communities is our work to do. We commit to action. To learning and decision-making that recognizes the ongoing impacts of colonialism, to building respectful and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities and to creating space for Indigenous voices, knowledge systems and community-led priorities.
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