Summer of Skinny Dipping Writing Contest Winners

We are really excited to announce the winners of our Summer of Skinny Dipping Writing Contest. We asked you to tell us about a memorable summer moment for your chance to win one of five signed copies of The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells.

AND, Amanda herself helped us pick the winners, taking into consideration originality & how well each person responded to the writing prompt. So without further ado, here are the five winners:

Rachel R.
Hannah M.
Tania P.
Shelby B.
Veronica H.

You can check out their winning entries (in no particular order) after the jump!

Rachel R.

Most of my summers in high school were spent working, I’ve never been one to stay idle, so the minute I was released from school I usually ended up at the job I had lined up.  My senior year I had decided that I was going to join the military, USAF here I come, but a realization came at the end of the school year as my final “summer” loomed, was that I had never really slowed down all high school. I was to “ship off” in August, which left 2+ months for me to experience a real summer vacation. I went to the beach, I partied with my friends, I met new people and even fell a little bit in love. I called it my summer experiment – and still to this day I have some of the most memorable moments of my life in those 2 months. Some embarrassing, some regrettable and some life changing for good.

I got my first tattoo that summer. A black cat on my ankle – to make my own luck.

I dated a sailor and subsequently broke his heart – which I still regret to this day.

I danced on a bar, which I’m still embarrassed about today.

I fell for my best guy friend, which changed my life forever.

I made new friends, made a few new enemies and learned how to line dance.

I reconnected with the parents, whom I had pushed away a bit during high school.  But, in the end I learned a lot about myself. I learned about things that make me happy, personality traits that I might have to work on a bit – and really that I’m not as perfect as I thought and the project that is me, might be ongoing and something I have to work on everyday.

Hannah M.

I was at my family reunion, in a campground surrounded by people i hardly knew or had seen for five or more years. My eyes scouted the group, scoping out any familiar faces. Giving up, i took up my lunch plate and headed for the big red exit sign. I avoided the gazes of my relatives for fear they would strike up an awful conversation of how cute i looked when i was 10. The buzz of conversation died as i drew farther and farther away from the mess hall. The route back to our rented cabin took me deeper into the woods, where it was totally silent. I should have realized something was amuck; the woods are never completely silent.

I rounded a corner and there, sitting in the middle of the trail, was a fox, its tail curled around its face, only its eyes showed. And they were staring back at me, feral, but also curious. The arcane twist of fear suddenly knotted itself in my stomach.  I was stalk still, never in my life had i been this close to a fox, or any sort of dangerous animal. The red fox sniffed the air, its tail fluffing as the movement hit it. I pulled the stringy meat away from the plate until it was dangling in the air. The fox sat up and cocked its head, slowly and cautiously placing a paw closer towards me. The grace of its movements took my breath away. Another step. Another, and it lifted its head, its eyes locked on mine, gauging my reaction as it slowly took the dangling meat and sat back on its haunches. I lifted another piece of meat off the plate. The fox, much braver now, instantly brought its head up and took it, one of its canines brushed my fingers and as i flung my hand back the skitterish fox took off into the underbrush.

Tania P.

My story isn’t one of love or friendship, well it is, just not in the way you might think. See one day back in the summer of 2002 changed what I wanted my future to be. I was only 8 at the time, but today, 8 years later I still feel the same way, and this was all because of a little Cairn terrier named Nina. Nina was my Aunt Mercedes’ and Uncle Angel’s dog, and I had come down to Miami from New York with my grandma and sister to visit them for the summer. I remember the first day when I met her, it was early July and she sniffed at me, nudged me and walked around me all day, slowly becoming more and more friendly. We bonded immediately as we both were full of restless energy, just wanting to play. I have so many memories of that summer when I felt as though she became more and more mine… She began to scratch at my door in the mornings, I took her for her walks every day, I learned how to feed her, and I played with her all the time. I loved her, and she didn’t need to talk to tell me that she loved me too, I just knew. We protected each other, as weird as that may sound. I will never forget seeing little Nina jumping up and down, barking as loud as she could, trying to defend me against a grown Rottweiler who didn’t like strangers too much… and I protected her too. I still have the scar that proves that I really threw myself off my Razor scooter, cutting up my left arm and leg, to save her when a truck was backing out and had no way of seeing her there. Yes, I loved her every much but never more than on the aforementioned day in question when Nina helped me see what I wanted my future to be. On this particular day nothing was any different, everyone was in the kitchen except for my uncle and Nina – they were in the backyard picking mangos, we couldn’t even see them through the sliding door because of all the trees. All I remember is Nina coming to the door and banging against it, barking on the other side although we couldn’t hear her. I opened the door and she roughly pulled at my pants, which was unusual, and ran back toward where she was earlier. My aunt and I followed her to find that my uncle had collapsed from a heart attack. They called the ambulance and my uncle was fine, and all I could think about was that he wouldn’t be if my beautiful tiny dog hadn’t been there. I decided that day to become a veterinarian, and now at 16 that’s still what I want to do, I’m even working at the NY Aquarium to help accomplish that dream. Even if I don’t end up becoming a veterinarian I will never forget Nina, not only was she my first unofficial dog, but she taught me so much, giving me a new appreciation for animal life that I still carry within me today.

Shelby B.

I’ve been going to the beach pretty much my entire life.  My mother still has a photograph of me in a frilly blue swimsuit at ten months old, playing in the surf as she held my chubby little body.  I love the beach—the crisp, salty air, the never-ending breeze, the warm sand littered with pale shells.  I really love swimming, though.

I must have read the sign in front of the boardwalk a million times.  The sign, yellow, plastic, warns the world about the dangers of rip tides.  RIP TIDES: THE UNSEEN DANGER OF CURRENTS.  By the time I was fourteen, I no longer wasted my time reading the sign.  I just ran straight past to the ocean.  My parents though, ever concerned, would still remind me: “If you get caught in a rip tide, swim parallel to the shore.”  “I KNOW, Mom!”

I didn’t know, not really.  I’d been battered around before, even trapped under a boat until I ran out of air.  But I’d never been carried out so far I couldn’t touch the bottom anymore.  I’d never been dragged down by a current and fought for my life as water demanded I die.  I’d never needed my parent’s help and have them fail me, because “Well, you looked pretty far out there, but I didn’t think you were in trouble.”  I’d never been trapped by a rip tide, not until I was fourteen years old.

I still sometimes get chills remembering it.  I was exhausted, and I had only been fighting the current for a few minutes.  I don’t care what anyone says, panic is always the first thing that hits you in a life-or-death situation.  I panicked, like crazy.  I screamed and thrashed and waved my arms and sobbed…all useless, because no one could hear me.  My parents thought I was just waving at them.

It’s strange how your mind works when you think you’re going to die.  Somehow, you become absolutely calm and certain.  There were only two definite thoughts I had in that moment, as I my life hung between the choice of fighting or giving up.  One was, “I’m going to live.”  The other was “When caught in a rip tide, swim parallel to the shore.”
I didn’t think about anything else.  I didn’t think, “I can’t believe how powerful a rip tide really is,” or, “I am going to kill my parents when I get back to shore.”  I just thought about living and swimming.  It took me a half-hour of pure adrenaline high, but I eventually escaped the current and—breathless—floated to shore.

You know the crazy thing about it all, though?  I’m not scared of swimming in the ocean.  I still run down the boardwalk and jump in the waves.  I just respect the ocean more now.  I pay attention to the color of the safety flags, and I’ve read up on rip tides.  I’ll never stop swimming—I’ll just do it smarter from now on.

Veronica H.

When I read the contest and saw the words “memorable summer moment” just one popped into my head. It was the summer of 2004 when I was 15 years old. Where I live, when girls turn 15 they usually get a big party but me, not being such a fan of parties, chose to travel. I went to Europe with my mom. But that’s not the interesting part. You see, a couple of summers before that one I met someone and we liked each other and kind of dated –I say kind of because I was only 13 and what did I know about dating?- Oh, important detail- I met him in Spain. Anyways, I never really got over him *still not over him.* You would think that my memorable summer moment was when we dated but sadly, no. It wasn’t all that pretty, I could tell you about it but you didn’t ask about “broken heart summer moments.” OK, back to what really matters. That summer not only did I travel through Spain, England, France and Italy, but something truly amazing and magical happened. In order for you to understand why it was so magical, you must know that I’m a firm believer in destiny and signs *there’s a reason Serendipity is my favorite movie*. So what happened was, I was at the ‘Fontana di Trevi’, I had a coin in my hand, thinking about my wish, concentrating really hard, thinking about all the things I could wish for but when the moment came to throw the coin only one thing seemed to be in my head: him. And so I threw the coin and made my wish. *I can’t really tell you my wish because I’m still hoping it can come true.* After I made my wish, I had this weird feeling and I don’t why I searched for my phone and what did I find: a missed call by him! It was strange because he never called me during the whole trip, just some occasional instant messages through his sister’s phone (he was pretending to be his sister, who is actually one of my closest friends). I still can’t think of this moment and not smile. It’s silly but to me, it meant something. It was a sign, or at least I hope it was. It was the most special thing that has ever happened. I don’t know if destiny has something prepared for us or not but at least I have that moment and it will stay with me forever.