The New England Outdoor Writers Association has announced the winners of its 2014 Youth Writing Contest. The contest has a senior division, grades 9-12, and a junior division, grades 6-8, and is open to all New England schools. In Maine, the two state winners were Quinn Sluzenski — a 12th grader at Calais High School — and Chloe Lawrence — a 6th grader at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden.

This year NEOWA received entries from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and two At-Large winners from home-schooled youth or those whose schools were not participating, producing nine state winners, and the two best overall New England winners.

The New England State winners first competed in their local schools before moving up to compete at the state level. Additionally this year a new At­-Large competition was instituted for youth home­schooled or whose schools were not participating. The State and At­Large winners were selected by panels of local outdoor writers, then submitted for the New England judging, which was done by a panel of distinguished  NEOWA judges.