The IMPAC Young Writers Awards are now operating across the Globe. They are aimed at encouraging young people to express themselves creatively in English.

Felicity Sheehy, 16, of the Westover School of Middlebury, accepts $1,000 check and other items Sunday at the Mark Twain House &Museum in Hartford as she is proclaimed State Poetry Champion in the 2009 Connecticut Young Writers competition. With Sheehy, L-R: Franz Douskey, poet and board member of the Young Writers Trust; Dr. Louise Feroe, Vice Chancellor, Connecticut State University System; and Co-Masters of Ceremonies Ravi Shankar, the poet and Central Connecticut State University Professor and Rand Richard Cooper, board member, author and travel writer for Bon Appetit. Sheehy, one of eight county champions, won for her poem, "Evening Conversation."

Emma Lowenberg, 16, of the Lowenberg Home School in Redding, accepts $1,000 check and other items Sunday at the Mark Twain House &Museum in Hartford as she is proclaimed State Prose Champion in the 2009 Connecticut Young Writers competition. With Lowenberg, L-R: Franz Douskey, poet and board member of the Young Writers Trust; Dr. Louise Feroe, Vice Chancellor, Connecticut State University System; and Co-Masters of Ceremonies Ravi Shankar, the poet and Central Connecticut State University Professor and Rand Richards Cooper, board member, author and travel writer for Bon Appetit. Lowenberg, one of eight county champions, won for her story, "Bernard."