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Writers of all skillsets from across Virginia sent in submissions to Longwood University, wanting a spot in the final three of the Young Writers Competition. Out of those thousands of entries, one of the final three in the poetry segment came from our region. And that would be from high school student Madison Godsey. 

Writing is something that sometimes comes easier than art, according to Madison Godsey. The Randolph-Henry High student wrote a poem titled, “My Hage”, and submitted it to the Longwood Young Writer’s Competition, taking home a coveted spot as a competition finalist. 

“‘My Hage’ is a poem about my art block during the time I wrote it, and no matter how much I tried to come up with something, it just felt like my metaphorical garden was barren,” Godsey said. “I personally only began writing creatively in the past few years for my theater class and with my artwork.” 

Godsey said she finds inspiration in a lot of different areas, when it comes to writing. 

“I find a lot of inspiration in different styles of horror and darker writings or art,” Godsey said. “The creative works I’ve enjoyed writing the most so far have been poetry and fiction.”

As the school year winds down, high schoolers everywhere are excitedly attending end of the year events such as prom, graduation, and applying to college. In addition to interacting with her own set of end of the year itineraries, Godsey has been busy taking in the accomplishments of what is still quite the victory, despite walking away as a finalist.

What is the Young Writers Competition? 

Every year, Longwood University opens up submissions, asking high school students across Virginia to be creative. Longwood provides the theme, something to focus on. Then the students are asked to take it and run with it. They can write a poem, fiction or non-fiction story that uses it in some way.  

This year, the theme was about Gen Z, anyone born in 1997 or afterward, and their willingness to act on what they believe. Those submissions are sorted through and eventually narrowed down to one winner and two finalists in each category. Godsey walked out of the awards ceremony on April 19 as one of just two finalists across the entire state for the poetry competition. 

“The Longwood reception was nice,” she said, “especially being able to hear the works written by the ones who won the contest. The highlight of my night was being able to feel appreciated for my efforts and to be able to appreciate others.”

Plans after high school

With a love for theater and acting, Godsey enjoys auditioning for shows close by in her free time. 

When asked about plans after high school, Godsey states, “I plan to go to college in Minnesota at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to get a degree in Comic Arts. It would allow me to be able to try to incorporate writing with my art in the future. It would be amazing to write and illustrate my own comic for a living.”

She thanks her teacher and mentor, Lisa Haertel, for helping her submit poetry. She also thanks her parents for supporting her in all these things. 

But writing doesn’t come without its own set of challenges, however. 

“The most challenging thing about writing is coming up with what to write in the first place,” Gosey said. “My ideas are always changing, so my writing does in turn. However, it’s very rewarding when I finally finish what I started and I’m able to feel confident with the outcome.”