Write the Rockies, an annual writing contest presented by the Summit County Library and the Rotary Club of Summit County, has officially wrapped up a record-breaking year.

Seeing the most entries the event has ever seen, the program continues to grow as a beloved local tradition celebrating creativity across generations.

Open to writers ages 11 and up, this year’s Write the Rockies saw original poems and short stories in both English and Spanish. By the March 17 deadline, 200 submissions had been received. A panel of 31 judges — including members of the Summit County Rotary Club, Summit County Library, Education Foundation of the Summit, and other community literary advocates — judged the entries to determine top honors based on passion, honesty and quality of execution.

Finalists were honored at a celebration and awards ceremony hosted by the Rotary Club of Summit County at a breakfast meeting on Tuesday, April 15. The event included a special reading, where one winner from each category read an excerpt of their prize-winning work.

A prize pool of $5,800 — which was provided by the Rotary Club — was distributed among the winners. $300 was given to first, $200 was given to second and $100 was given to third place across multiple age groups and language categories.

The Summit County Library is set to publish an anthology of selected submissions to further celebrate the participants’ work. Once printed, the anthology will be available for checkout at all of the Summit County Library branches. Last year’s anthology is currently available to the public.