A Grade 1 Weyburn student, Madisyn Schick, wrote a story about “Apple Pie friends” and won first place in a contest in her grade category, and will have her story published in an anthology of stories submitted by children from across Canada.
She entered the story-writing contest with DC Canada Education Publishing, and won first place in her age category.
She received a $100 prize, a certificate and will be mailed a copy of the children’s story anthology that her story will be featured in. The book will be professionally edited and illustrated and published in the coming year, available for purchase online at DC Education Publishing.
“My story is called ‘Apple Pie Friends: The Garden Party’ and is the second book about Apple Pie friends that I’ve written,” said Madisyn.
When she heard that she had won, Madisyn said it “felt great, it was very exciting. I’m going to be a published author!”
“My story is about some friends who are planning a garden party when the apple pie goes missing. The friends have to find it before the party,” explained Madisyn.
Her mom, Megan Schick, added that the story follows her first book about The Apple Pie Friends working together to pick all the apples off a tree to make a delicious apple pie. The apple pie friends include a farmer, a black cat, a dog, an owl and a robin with the addition of a new friend, a bear, in the second story.
Madisyn came up with the apple pie friend idea while using a felt storyboard and dictating her story to her mom. Megan wrote down Madisyn’s words and read them back to her, and they worked together to edit the story and create a final draft.
Megan then illustrated the first book for Madisyn. Megan also wrote down Madisyn’s Garden Party sequel as Madisyn dictated it to her and they submitted the good copy to the competition.
Madisyn loves writing stories and said she hopes to have more stories published in the future.
Editor Kara Cybanski said DC Canada’s second One Story a Day Writing Contest (2021-22) was a raging success.
“With 350 stories by first to sixth graders from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador, our team was thrilled to see so many aspiring authors send us the fruits of their labours. Now, we have the pleasure of sharing our favourite stories with the world,” she said.
She noted the “One Story a Day” collection was created to foster a love of reading in children.
“We have no doubt that this anthology, written by kids for kids, will have the same effect. From daring magical feats to adventurous animals, this book has it all - the stories are as diverse as the kids who wrote them. After a bit of work by our editing team regarding grammar and punctuation, 32 stories were ready to publish,” she said.
Of Madisyn’s story, Cybanski said, “For a writer in Grade 1-2, her story was incredibly impressive - it's a tale of friendship, sharing, and yummy apple pie. It's called ‘Apple Pie Friends: The Garden Party’, and is the first place story in the Grade 1-2 category. We judged based on originality, word choice, fluency/organization, and spelling. Madisyn's submission was well-written and put a smile on our faces.”
She added the editors were thoroughly impressed by the talent they saw in all the submissions received.
“Every single writer who dared to send in a story created something wonderful and, with practice, will continue to grow as an author and as an individual. We can't wait to see what these young Canadians will do next,” she said.
