Dalton Public Schools held its annual Young Georgia Authors celebration on Thursday, March 30 at Hammond Creek Middle School. Students and staff from across the district attended to be recognized for their hard work.  

Young Georgia Authors is a Georgia state writing contest. Every year there is one winner selected from each elementary school in each grade and 6 winners from grades 6 - 12. Then one winner is selected from each grade as our district winners. From there those winners are sent to our RESA where we compete against 18 school systems and again one winner per grade is selected. Then those winners go to the state level where they choose one winner per grade level.  

Dalton Public Schools has participated in the Young Georgia Author contest for 16 years. In the history of the district's participation in this event, the district has had 65 RESA winners and 5 state winners. This year, there was one RESA honorable mention and one RESA winner.

Here are the 2023 District Winners:

Kindergarten:  Brookwood – Cate Hughes (The Worst Day Ever) 

1^st Grade:  Brookwood – Judson Phillips (All About Cavities) 

2^nd Grade:  Brookwood – Florence Dillon (Frogs) 

3^rd Grade:  Westwood – Finley Souther (Still Standing) 

4^th Grade:  Brookwood – Nyara Bonds (Where I’m Going) 

5^th Grade:  Westwood – Eva Smith (Beauty Made by Ashes) 

6^th Grade:  Hammond Creek – Miranda Martin (Memory Lane) 

7^th Grade:  Hammond Creek – Mayra Villalobos (El Ultimo Adios) 

8^th Grade:  Dalton Junior High – Natalia Villalobos (The Empty Chair) 

9^th Grade:  Dalton Junior High – Annabelle Rollins (The Catcher) 

10^th Grade:  Dalton High – Lilli Sharp – (A Quaking Aspen) 

11^th Grade:  Dalton High – Vanessa Lopez (Do You Remember Me?) 

12^th Grade:  Dalton High – Alyssa Favela (I am a Living Story) 

Here are the 2023 RESA Winners:

Honorable Mention in 3^rd grade from Brookwood:  Finley Souther (Still Standing) 

1st Place in 12^th grade from Dalton High:  Alyssa Favela (I am a Living Story)