Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Short Story Contest hosted by the Clermont County Public Library. Thank you so much for sharing your writing.

The first, second and third place winners in both categories have been selected.

Adult Winners

• First Place: Trained to Love by Nancy Zeller
• Second Place: Little Ninja by A.J. Reschka
• Third Place:  Cap by Shannon Haynes

Teen Winners

• First Place: The Circle by Olivia Cook
• Second Place: Freckled by Audrey Barno
• Third Place: The Tale of the Golden Strings by Maya Carter

The manuscripts were judged in a blind format where the judges of both categories did not know the names of the authors and each work was evaluated independently. The highest scoring entries from the contest were passed along to a final judge who read the entries without knowing the authors and then chose the winners for both categories.

Stories can be powerful and personal. Thank you to everyone who shared their words with us.