“I was thinking of what situation weighs on me heavily, like what are my biggest fears. What started all this was the thinking of what it would be like to have a second chance at life.”

Olivia Sharp, as senior at Soddy Daisy has recently been awarded the winner of the Young Southern Student Writers contest. “The YSSW contest was founded in 1999 by Dr. Verbie Prevost, George Connor Professor Emerita of American English at UTC, to promote and honor writing by K-12 students in Hamilton County, Tennessee’s public, private, and homeschool programs. UTC partners with the Southern Lit Alliance to engage approximately 5,000 young people each year.”

Under the direction of SDHS government and economics teacher, Mr. Archer, she turned in her prose short story along with several other anonymous students. From there it was sent to a panel of judges with the YSSW and UTC staff. “¸More than 300 students from area schools were selected as winners from over 3,500 submissions.” (The Chattanoogan) She received recent information awarding her the title of 11th/12th grade prose winner for her short story. Her story will be published online through the UTC YSSW online annual winners booklet.

The story is about a girl who’s been haunted by Death for the past couple of months with no explanation as to why. Eventually, she reaches her breaking point in the story and begs for his mercy because he looms over her with a daunting presence, making her lonely and distant from everyone important in her life. His response is to ask her why she deserves his mercy and a second chance at life and she is left speechless. After a revelation on her part, she replies, “If you only give me another chance, I will make myself worthy.” She decides to change her life for the better and stays true to her promise to Death to make herself worthy of life.

Sharp drew inspiration from several different authors that she has followed in the past. As an avid reader, she has read several different publications in multiple different genres, and it was time to include herself among one of her fellow authors.

Sharp will be awarded a medal for her publication during a banquet on Tuesday, April 23rd. There, she will be officially recognized by the YSSW as a published author and her piece will be on display for all to read on their website.