The Mesa Historic Preservation Board has announced the winners of the 2022 Historical Fiction Writing and Video Contest. The contest winners were recognized at the May 16 Mesa City Council meeting:
First Place Video Contest Winner: Team of Kaelyn Udall, Alyssa Udall and Rachel Joslyn from Red Mountain High School for "The Oral History of Elaine Rowley Baker"
First Place Essay Contest Winner: Sophia Mateo of Edison Elementary School for "Mesa, Arizona History is Famous"
Second Place Essay Contest Winner: Alyza Crider of Prenda School for "Dear Diary"
Third Place Essay Contest Winner was a tie among three students from Edison Elementary School: Sundee Speakman for "Something Old in a Place So Very New," James Arbizu for "Historic Neighborhoods in Mesa, Arizona" and Chloe Layton for "Little Houses of Big Purpose"
Fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Mesa participated in the essay contest while the video contest was open to sixth through 12th graders. Mesa Historic Preservation Board members judged the essays on historical accuracy, writing or video skills and creativity.
The winning entries are posted on the City of Mesa website at https://www.mesaaz.gov/residents/historic-preservation-office/writing-video-contest#!/