Thomas County Central High School sophomore Riley Jones wrote his way to the awards podium in a state meet.

Jones competed in the essay category and placed third in Argumentative Essay at the Georgia High School Association State Literary Competition, held March 12 in Warner Robbins.

“I am very proud of my award considering that this is only my first year entering the competition,” Jones said. “My competition was tough so I am very excited that I placed third.”

Competitors were given three topic choices and had to select one topic to write about in a two-hour period.

“I chose to write about how the United States should improve our relations with Cuba,” Jones said.

The GHSA State Literary Competition is a yearly event in which the most innovative students from schools all across the state come to compete in various events. Other event areas include speech, choir, and drama.

Jones advanced to state competition after placing first in his category at the Region 1 AAAA leg of the event. He was recommended to compete by his English teacher, Stacey Mitchell.

Mitchell calls Jones “a great writer.” She said Jones is “adept at thinking on his feet” and “his writing is always very thorough.”

TCCHS Assistant Principal Dr. James Rehberg said Jones’ performance at region and state “was really impressive.”

“This was our first competition since the GHSA made the transition in Literary this spring from a gender defined competition to a competition based more on the specific aspects of each discipline/event,” he said. “Riley actually faced more competition from a broad field of writers. Placing first in region and third in state as a sophomore is no small feat. He's set the bar pretty high for the next two years. We anticipate a lot of great things in his future.”

Jones said he looks forward to participating in future writing competitions.