Wordsmith is a timed writing contest for 7^th – 12^th-grade students in public and private schools throughout the Mid-South. This year, twenty-seven schools competed. It is hosted each year at the University of Memphis. The tournament tests students’ skills in four modes of nonfiction writing – description, narration, persuasion and exposition.

There were three initial competitions: the 40 word dash, the 80 word dash, and the 120 word dash and all students received the same writing assignment in each category and were judged within their grade level.  Ribbons were handed out for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each grade for each of the three events. If a student won a ribbon, he/she then stayed for the last event the 400 word dash.  In the 40 word dash, 7th grader Kendall Smith won second place, 10th grader Sophie Tusant won first, along with 10th grader Lucy Jones winning second. Eleventh grader Emily Jordan won second place, and senior John Garrett placed third. In the 80 word dash, 8th grader Sarah Gentry won an honorable mention, 9th grader Gibby Fakes also won an honorable mention, and 10th grader Lucy Jones won first place. In the 120 word dash, 7th grader Kendall Smith won third place, 8th grader Sarah Gentry won an honorable mention, 10th grader Lucy Jones won third place and 11th grader Emily Jordan won second place.

All Westminster students went on to compete in the 400 word dash where 7th grader Kendall Smith won second place, 9th grader Gibby Fakes won an honorable mention, 10th grader Sophie Tusant  and 11th grader Emily Jordan won first place. The following students won medals in the Wordsmith competition; Gold went to Kendall Smith, Sophie Tusant and Emily Jordan and Silver went to Lucy Jones. Westminster also won school trophies. First place trophies were awarded to our 10th and 11th graders and second place was awarded to our 7th graders. Congratulations to all of our students! We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to their teachers, Jannica Gregory, Beth Sadler and Deborah Perry for developing this art in our students!