Senior Ivy Breinig recently earned All-Georgia from the Georgia Scholastic Press Association  for her short story “Blue cardigan.” 

Her story was published in the school’s literary-art magazine, which earned an Excellent rating in the 2022 general excellence contest.

Additional awardees included sophomore Isabella Matey earning Superior for her poem “My Constellation,” sophomore Allissa Chiu earning Superior for her photograph “Black Sunset,” and the literary-art magazine staff earning Superior for a spread design.

Here is what Breinig had to say about her award-winning short story:

What was your inspiration for your short story blue cardigan? 

“I was hanging out with my friends and it was in the middle of a stressful semester last year, but that night I was able to have a lot of fun and experience peace, an abundance of happiness. That started the inspiration for these two characters to meet one night while they’re at a party.”

What is “Blue cardigan” about? 

“‘Blue cardigan’ is about these two characters, Amber, who goes by the painter, and Viena. They meet this one night. The story is in Amber’s perspective on that night and how he feels. This leads up to him going up to the poet that morning because with her he feels at peace and happy. He has a lot of trials and tribulations that he goes through, and I just wanted to bring in a character that could make him feel happy.”

What’s an aspect/writing of the story that you really enjoy?

“I really like the structure of the way I write. I try to give off a poetic way of writing, a peaceful elevated way of writing.”

What was the biggest hurdle in writing this short story?

“The editing was probably the toughest part. I tend to let my emotions take over and I spill out everything in a mess, so I had to make it short and concise, make it clear to the reader so they don’t get confused.”

What are you planning on doing, if anything with the story?

“Right now people have seen part one of ‘Blue cardigan,’ and so far I’ve written two other parts and I’m planning a fourth part as the conclusion.”

What next project that you’re planning on doing?

“The fourth part of ‘Blue cardigan,’ which is going to include a new character’s perspective.”

Who inspires you as a writer? 

“Shakespeare is who inspired me to write in a poetic way. When you read and you think, ‘Oh, this doesn’t make sense,’ but when you dig into it more you find all of his patterns and everything that he hides like beautiful metaphors or similes that it holds that just tell the story in really beautiful ways.”

What are any-long term goals that you have?

“It’s to keep writing to create stories through events that I lived through. One special thing is for pieces of dialogue in my writing with conversation I’ve had with actual people. I just want to keep writing as long as I can, because it’s also kind of an outlet and I will probably minor in writing in college.”