Cherokee County third-grader wins statewide writing contest

Sarah Courchene is a third-grader at Mountain Road Elementary School in Alexis Basel's class.

Sarah Courchene is a third-grader at Mountain Road Elementary School in Alexis Basel's class.

Sarah Courchene, a third-grader at Mountain Road Elementary School in Cherokee County, won a statewide writing contest.

Courchene wrote an entry called "Candy Island" for the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project's Leslie Walker Writers of Promise Contest. She is the winner for the elementary school division. Sarah is a student of teacher Alexis Basel.

The award is named after the late teacher Leslie Walker. According to the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project’s website, Walker “strived to create community in her classroom through writing about place.”

The contest asks teachers to send up to 20 of their students’ submissions, with an emphasis on writing that focuses on a place that is significant to them.