Bucks Co. High School Students Capture 2026 Writing Contest Honors

NEWTOWN, PA — The Bucks County Short Fiction Contest for High-School students has announced the winners of its spring 2026 contest.

Sara Templeton of Yardley, a tenth-grader at Pennsbury High School, placed first for “The Boy Who Painted the Sunset.” Jason Marks of Sellersville, a tenth-grader at Pennridge High School, placed second for “The Grave.” And Sarah Lueck of Doylestown, a senior at Central Bucks West High School, placed third for “Echoes and Revelations.”

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There were 50 entries in this year’s contest. Dr. Ellen Pratofiorito, a faculty member at Bucks County Community College, made the final selections.

Of Templeton’s story, Pratofiorito said, “With sensitivity and nuance, the writer addresses the value, and the limitations, of art in the difficult life of one boy as he is growing up. Starting with a rich description of a sunset, the writer bravely sets art
alongside the life problems which art cannot solve, though we see at the same time, through the main character, that art may help us survive, and maybe even hope to thrive."

The final judge commented on Marks’ story by saying, “This story captures the dialogue, tone of voice, and thought patterns of its main characters, primarily a group of teenage
boys, in a way that is engaging and believable. The writer manages what begins as light and even humorous dialogue to turn to some of the darker and more existential questions and threats troubling us all — about isolation, loneliness, and self-doubt.”

Lueck’s story “explores the grief and trauma of an accident, which causes the loss of sight for the main character,” wrote the judge. “The story works through the slow progress towards acceptance and even perhaps moments of unexpected appreciation in the new life thrust onto the narrator, who, in an unusual choice, turns out not to be a human first-person narrator, but a dragon.”