A John Bapst Memorial High School student won a statewide writing contest with an essay based on their own frustrations with being an imperfect perfectionist.
Molly Trainor, a senior from Bangor, won first place in The Telling Room’s 18th annual Statewide Writing Contest with their essay called “Survival of the Flawed.” The essay explores the feeling of getting frustrated when someone makes mistakes while holding themselves to unreachable expectations.
In the weeks leading up to the contest deadline, Trainor, 18, said they were having a tough time “because things weren’t quite going my way.” So, they decided to write about those feelings as well as the reminders they tell themselves in challenging times.
“Things aren’t always going to be perfect, and you can’t hold yourself to that perfect standard all the time,” Trainor said. “That’s something I’m trying to get better at because I’m such a perfectionist by nature, which can be a detriment in some cases.”
Trainor’s piece was selected from the more than 330 poems, stories and essays submitted by students in each of Maine’s 16 counties. This was the first time Trainor entered a piece of writing in The Telling Room’s contest.
The Telling Room is a Portland-based nonprofit aimed at improving the confidence, writing and storytelling skills of children and young adults. Founded in 2004, the organization works with more than 2,500 young writers each year in more than 100 communities across Maine.
Trainor said they’ve been told by teachers and family members that they have a knack for writing, but started submitting their creative writing to contests this academic year, though they never expected to win.
A panel of 21 judges that included local authors, illustrators, editors, and Telling Room alumni and students judged the contest and chose winners, according to the organization.
“‘Survival of the Flawed’ was one of the pieces that stuck with all of our editors after reading it for the first time,” said Jude Marx, a lead teacher in The Telling Room’s afterschool program called Publishing Workshop. “We loved its important message, as well as how the author sustains the extended metaphor throughout the piece.”
As a prize for the award, Trainor’s piece will be published in The Telling Room’s upcoming anthology of youth writing and a $250 cash prize.
The Telling Room also named a winner from each county. Trainor’s piece was selected as both the contest’s grand prize winner and the Penobscot County winner.
Trainor said they plan to continue writing and submitting works to contests, and challenge themselves to create something new for each competition to strengthen their skills.
Though Trainor considered majoring in English or Literature in college, they have decided to attend the University of Maine to study botany.
To anyone who reads Trainor’s work, they hope they remember to “be gentle with yourself and understand when you need to take a break and step back from something.”
