Amelia Bowes, a third-year student from Merrickville, ON, placed first in the 14 to 25 year-old category in The Word Guild鈥檚 Fresh Ink novice Writing Contest. Formerly known as God Uses Ink, the contest is sponsored by The Word Guild, an association of Canadian Christian writers and editors, to recognize the talents of aspiring writers who have never been published. For the contest, Amelia submitted a poem entitled 鈥淭rauma Sessions,鈥 which she says came out of a very dark place she was in earlier this semester. 鈥淚 knew these issues were holding me back in several areas of my life, and the poem really came from me coming to the realization that I had to deal with them in order to fully flourish into the person God is steadily calling me to be.鈥 Amelia says that ever since she was a kid, 鈥淚鈥檝e loved words and the way they sound and fit together,鈥 and cites authors such as writers like Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flannery O鈥機onnor and Allen Ginsberg as having the biggest influences on her work. 鈥淚n beautiful words they communicate the ugliest sides of humanity, and aren鈥檛 afraid to get their hands dirty in the process. This is something that I really admire and I think is needed, especially among the Christian community. I also have to give a big shout out to Michael Blouin, my Grade 12 Writer鈥檚 Craft teacher. He saw a gift in me that I had yet to see in myself, and has continued to help me grow as a writer, a Christian, and a human being.鈥 For winning the award, Amelia has been given free registration to the Write Canada national conference this spring in Guelph. Her future plans include either being the next J.K. Rowling or pursuing journalism, an interest that was tweaked by taking a journalism class this year. However, she is open to a number of options: 鈥溾橫an plans God laughs鈥 right? I鈥檓 willing to see where the future takes me.鈥 鈥淚鈥檓 equally honoured and surprised to winning the award,鈥 she says. 鈥淭o be honest I did not think this piece was my best work at all, but I guess I鈥檝e learned an important lesson in underestimating myself.鈥