Two Petersburg students won awards in the Alaska Statewide Youth Art & Writing competition.

Helen Martin, 8th grader at Mitkof Middle School, won third place for an excerpt of a mystery novel she’s writing and another third place award for a flash fiction short story.

Martin’s mystery novel is set in Denmark and chronicles a girl who discovers a body in a bog on land her father owns.

“I’ve been writing for a really long time,” Martin said. “My mom has documents on her computer from when I was orating stories to her when I was five.”

Martin said she enjoys writing mystery stories for their plot...