Allison Yakubovich loves the way words sound when she reads them.

And, given that the Bi-Cultural Day School sixth-grader recently was awarded first prize for fiction in the 32nd Annual Stamford Literary Competition, it’s safe to assume she loves the way words sound when she writes them, too.

“I love the feeling I get when I read what I wrote,” says Allison, who was among 10 budding Bi-Cultural writers who took home competition awards. “I like to speak with a lot of detail so I write with a lot of detail, too.” Of her story, “The Not So Great Houdini,” she explains, “I wanted to make it so that it described a typical life of a teenager with a sprinkle of fantasy.”

Sponsored by the Friends of the Ferguson Library, the competition recognizes excellence in the writing of fiction, non-fiction and poetry among Stamford students in grades three through 12.

In addition to Allison, other Bi-Cultural students who won awards were: Shira Hecht, Lilah Gordon, Jake Lipkin, Jenna Cohen, Taylor Newman-White, Abigail Thau, Talia Reich, Yehudit Hochman, and one student who chose to remain anonymous.

“We are so proud of the growth we’ve seen in Allison’s writing,” said her mother, Shana Yakubovich. “She has a strong vocabulary and a special way of pulling readers into her stories with descriptive words and humor. She’s always been encouraged by her BCDS teachers to be creative and to develop her style and her voice.”