By CONNIE NOLEN / Community Columnist

“Where have you been?” Pelham High School’s new bookkeeper Bridgett Hand asks with surprise. After meeting her in December, I’ve been consumed at my end of the building rarely making my way to the main office for more than necessary official business.

“Everyone knows when it’s basketball or baseball season,” I share with Hand, “but at PHS, there are more competitive seasons to know.”

Everyone competes at PHS—even those who are literary and artistic. The winter months bring the race of deadlines, submissions, scans, emails and post office trips.

Late February means traveling to the Alabama Scholastic Press Association State Convention where the state rankings for school publications are awarded.

After receiving the coveted title of All-Alabama throughout high school, PHS Literary Magazine staffers begin to exhibit anxious behavior after the final classes offering training end for the day and convention attendees gather in the ballroom for the highly anticipated awards ceremony.

Questions begin to fly concerning which individual pieces have been submitted for judging.

Attention deflected to other topics reveals that technology, inexpensive book making and sports writing classes were a big hit among students during the day.

Students attending for the first time, who do not understand the significance of the awards completely, ask when we will board the buses.

Finally awards begin: First on-site awards, carry-ins and finally awards for mail-ins—or publications judged in their entirety are slated to start.

Pelham High School’s “Amplify” edition of the “More than Words”Literary Magazine takes the All-Alabama Award for Literary Magazines and also wins first place in Cover Design and Theme Development.

Sixteen individual awards are captured by the staff, along with contributing writers, artists and photographers, including first and second place statewide in poetry, essays, fiction, photography, design and artwork.

I watch their faces light up like fireworks; I take their pictures with their awards.

With this fresh collaborative victory, these students know their strength comes from teamwork.

As the bus heads towards home, I hear them planning the 2016 magazine—and the race is on again—towards their next great challenge.