Two Hall County middle school students have won regional and state honors as Young Georgia Authors.

Athena Vachtsevanos, a sixth-grader at North Hall Middle School, has been named a state-level winner for her story, “Hope,” according to a Hall County Schools press release.

And Kailyn Neal, an eighth-grader at Cherokee Bluff Middle School received a state-level honorable mention for her story, “War of the Words.”

Each of these students won the grade-level district competition and then competed with grade-level winners from the 15 school systems in the Pioneer RESA Northeast Georgia region, including Mountain Education Charter High.

Student submissions were accepted for short stories, poetry, essays, journals, personal narratives, reports and other original writing.

Submission are judged on the four domains outlined in the Georgia Performance Standards: ideas, organization, cohesiveness and language.

The Young Georgia Authors Writing Competition, sponsored by the Georgia Council of Teachers of English, is open to students in grades kindergarten through 12th.

“Students become authors when they find a way to write what no one else could say,” said Laurie Ecke, assistant director of innovative and advanced programs for Hall County Schools. “Their writing springs from their unique experiences while communicating something universal.”