Submissions are closed for this year. A winner and an honorable mention were chosen for each age division in the categories of writing and visual art.

All submissions are on display at Portsmouth Historical Society, but you can also see and read them below!

2026 Winners

Visual Art – Ages 10 and Under

Visual Art – Ages 11-14

Visual Art – Ages 15–18

Creative Writing – 10 Years Old and Under

Anora D.
The Dog and the Alien
Winner for Writing, 10 years old and under
Inspired by Delsey by Adric Giles

It was my all fault. I know it was. The only reason they were driving so late was because they couldn’t find a dog-friendly hotel. If I hadn’t been there, they would have never seen that strange light. My people, Betty and Barney Hill, would never have gotten abducted by aliens. 

On September 19, 1961, my humans and I were driving back in the dark from their honeymoon in Montreal and Niagara Falls. They were laughing about how much I had barked at the raging water falls, while I was sprawled out in the backseat, head resting on my paws, drifting slowly to sleep.

“Do you see that?” Betty said suddenly.

I jerked awake and tilted up my head to see her pointing at a light in the sky that was too bright to be a star.

“Just a satellite knocked off course, probably,” Barney answered, brushing off her question.

I could sense Betty wasn’t quite sure, though.

“Let’s stop to give Delsey a bathroom break. We can get a look at this ‘satellite,’” suggested Betty.

We pulled over, and I hopped out of the car along with my humans. They took turns frantically looking through a pair of long, bulky glasses. What was so interesting about them? They didn’t smell exciting, but boy, were my humans fascinated with them.

“Get back in the car!” cried Barney urgently as he tugged at my leash.

 What’s wrong? I wondered as Barney ushered me into the front seat. I didn’t smell anything dangerous, nor did I see anything concerning except for the glowing light in the sky, but that appeared harmless. We raced down Route 3 with the light at our tail, but it didn’t look like a light anymore. It had taken on the form of a large frisbee with the headlights of a car. We weren’t playing fetch with this frisbee, though, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to chew on it either. I crawled up near Betty’s feet and started pacing back and forth, whining. I could tell that my people were scared, and to make the situation even worse, the car started to rattle, squeak and screech. A tingly feeling started to crawl up my legs, and Betty screamed.

“Help!” shrieked Barney. 

 I tried to comfort him by putting my paws on his shaking knee, but it didn’t have any effect. The chaos was too much, and then… and then… everything went black.

***

 When I opened my eyes, the frisbee was gone… and so were my people. I was alone. Where were they? It was my job to take care of them, and I had since day one, but now I had failed. Aside from a patch of moonlight that shone down on the backseat, the car was completely dark. Betty, Barney, and I had shared so many happy memories riding in this car, but now it felt like a prison cell full of misery. I started to whimper and then bark at the top of my lungs. I felt helpless. What could a little dachshund like me do anyways? My only hope now was to wait for them to come back. 

It felt like forever before I heard a strange pitter-patter. Were they back? I wagged my tail the slightest bit, but no one appeared. I cocked my head to the side and listened.

SQUEAK! BOOM!

 Without warning, the car door creaked open, and I saw a shadow crawl along the wall. Terrified, I cuddled up into a ball and closed my eyes. I could feel myself shaking and my heart pounding. I sensed the mysterious shadow creeping closer. I tensed up, ready to pounce, claw, bite, snarl, or do anything to defend myself from whatever or whoever was in the car. Bravely, I opened my eyes. Whatever I was expecting to see, it definitely wasn’t the slimy gray creature who was watching me. I, Delsey, was face to face with an alien! I bared my teeth to show him who was boss. 

The alien just stood there, staring at me with deep black eyes. To be honest, he didn’t look like what I would imagine an alien to look like… but I’m just a dog. He was a pale grey color with eyes that looked like coal. He had a massive forehead and smooth bald head, and aside from his squishy grey skin, he looked like a human. Only, he was exceptionally small. I didn’t actually find him very threatening, but boy, did he smell interesting. I leaned a little closer toward this strange space citizen. He smelled of rocks, dirt, maple wood, and was that cinnamon? I crept closer until my nose was practically touching his wet, slimy skin. With no warning, the alien patted my head. A shiver crawled down my spine, but I almost felt comforted by his large hand resting on my fur.

“Dog,” croaked a little voice.

Had an alien really just talked to me? I waited for him to say more, but he just stood there, staring. I wondered what he thought of a little dog earthling like me. Unsure what to do now, I watched as the alien started poking at different items all around the car (including me). With a sigh, he collapsed down on the seat next to me. 

“I lost,” squeaked his tiny voice once more.

Perhaps the frisbee was the alien’s home! Maybe my humans were in the frisbee with the alien’s family! Thinking about them gone made me sad, though, so I tried to place that thought at the back of my little doggy mind, but the reality that I was stuck in my car, deserted on the side of the road in the breakdown lane without my family kept coming back. Then soundlessly the alien hopped down to the dewy grass and stared at the sky. He made a sound that was like a combination of a human crying and a dog whimpering, and he collapsed down to the ground. His home was up there in the vast sky. So was my family. They were up there in the star-dotted solar system.

Suddenly, I had an inspiration. What if the alien and I were lost together? We could be friends. I placed my little paw on his foot and then nudged him with my nose, gently telling him it was okay. He seemed to understand, for he instantly cheered up and shook my paw as though we were making a promise of a forever friendship.

“You dog. I Little Alien,” he introduced himself, standing up with a surge of energy. He directed his gaze toward the pitch-black field. Magically, green lasers shot from his eyes and burned the long grass. I stared in utter shock. I had never seen my people do such a thing.

“You do?” Little Alien asked, shutting down his unbelievable power. “Aliens do.”

Confidently I stared down at the field and tried to open my eyes as wide as possible. When nothing miraculous happened, I scrunched my eyes up super hard. Nothing. I turned my head and glanced back at Little Alien, who looked at me lovingly. Without saying anything, he reached down and took my paw in his large, slimy hand. He stared intensely at the field, and I did too. In a matter of seconds, green lights were shooting from my eyes, just like Little Alien had done. I could do it too with the slightest bit of alien charge! Excited, I danced around in a circle on my hind legs, yipping and yapping. How impressed my humans would be when they came back. If I did it once, I could do it again! Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and then opened them, and lasers shot from my eyes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t appear to turn my lasers off, so Little Alien ended up having to jump in to help me. Yes! I did it all by myself, but boy, was I dizzy! Was I an alien? Only alien dogs could do things like that, right? 

I was getting tired though, so I hopped back into the car along with Little Alien and cuddled up in the back seat with him. Little Alien told me of his grand space adventures. He told of exploding rockets he had to escape from, meteor showers raining down on his home planet (Mars), and his kind family. He was an only child who lived with his mother and father who loved him to the moon and back. At night, they sang lullabies to him until he fell asleep in the warmth of their laps. During this part he started to get teary and hid his head in my fur. I knew what I had to do now. I licked at his salty tears before starting to howl a lullaby that my humans sang to me called “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Soon, both Little Alien and I were asleep, snuggled up together on the car seat. 

After a while, I jerked awake to a strange noise, and there it was in the sky: the frisbee where Little Alien’s family and my people were! They were back! My tail instantly started to wag, and I barked to wake up Little Alien. He looked out the window and at the sky with a huge grin, but then he frowned.

“This goodbye?” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears.

I whimpered, for I knew it was. I had to go home to be with my family, and Little Alien had to go home to be with his family. We wouldn’t be able to stay together any longer.

“I love you. I see dog again. I promise,” Little Alien comforted me, a tear trickling down his cheek.

I licked him so he knew that I loved him too. If dogs could cry, I would have.

“Bye-bye!” cried Little Alien softly, and in a flash, he disappeared, just as Betty and Barney had done.

For a moment, there was complete silence, and I curled up in the backseat, scared. All of a sudden, the car started to make weird squeaking noises all over again.

BANG!

The loudest noise yet sounded, and there in the front seat were Betty and Barney Hill. 

“What happened? Where are we?” Betty asked, rubbing her head.

“We are— We are in the car!” Barney answered, sounding shocked.

“Delsey!” cried Betty, whipping her head around to see me curled up in a tight ball. 

“We fell into a sort of daze,” Barney said, squinting.

“The light. The spaceship,” Betty said, wide-eyed.

“We were abducted by aliens,” whispered Barney, facing his wife.

“Impossible,” Betty muttered, shaking her head but looking right into Barney’s eyes.

On the drive home, I sat as close to my people as possible, not wanting to let them go. They murmured quietly, and sometimes I heard my name being thrown around. It was five o’clock A.M. when we got home. Our expected arrival time had been no later than three o’clock A.M., which led Barney and Betty to believe they had spent two hours in space with aliens. Ever since then, I’ve had the feeling that my people were famous.

If only they knew the amazing time I had had with Little Alien. I’d miss him with all my heart. Some nights, if I looked out the window, I got a glimpse of a spaceship with Little Alien waving to me from the front seat. Most nights, I felt like my eyes had this strange glowing sensation in them, but I didn’t mind; it reminded me of my friend. That night changed my whole life. I made friends with an alien, learned to shoot lasers out of my eyes, and realized how much I really did love my people, and I loved them along with Little Alien more than anything until the day I died.

Scilla S.
The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill
Honorable Mention for Writing, 10 years old and under
Inspired by Betty and Barney’s Great Adventure by Carolyn Vibbert

“Betty and Barney were a couple who believed they were abducted by Aliens.” I said. It was a scary story. “Really? Is it true that there are aliens?” Delaini asked. “Well, I’ll tell you a story. Betty and Barney were a couple who believed they were abducted by aliens. This happened through September 19 through September 20, 1961. People called this “Hill abduction.” Betty and Barney worked for NAACP. This is a group that worked for equal rights. Betty was White and Barney was Black. This was uncommon in that time.

Betty and Barney were driving home from a road trip back to Portsmouth. Both of them claims that they saw a UFO in the sky and heard a sound. Light shone right above of them.” I told her. “Really? Wait, what time was this at?” Delani asked. “This happened at 10:30pm. It was really dark out. Imagine you just see this light shine right above of you and heard this sound and it sounded like aliens.” I said. “Well, you would be there to protect me.” Delani said. “Anyways, they had been on vacation at Niagara falls and Montreal. Betty looked out the window. She thought she saw a falling star, but it seemed to be moving upwards. As it moved closer to them, it got bigger and brighter. Betty and Barney soon saw that it was not a falling star.

Betty asked Barney to stop the car, so Barney stopped the car. They wanted to get a closer look at the falling thing, and they also had to walk their dog Delsey. Barney parked near a picnic area near twin Mountain. Betty took her binoculars and looked at the moving object in the sky. It went across the moon. At first Barney thought it was an airplane, but it was getting closer and closer to them. They quickly got in the car and drove away, but the thing kept following them. They drove towards Franconia Notch. It was a narrow mountain road. Barney drove slow and watched as the object got closer and closer to them. Betty said she saw that it was spinning. A mile south from Indian head, the object came down really fast. It hovered about 100 feet above their car. Barney got out of it. He used the binoculars to look at the object. He thought he saw eleven human like figures with black uniforms on.” I paused to think about what I just said. Did someone actually see aliens? Were they really real? “Hey, why’d you stop? Keep going, keep going.” Delaini begged. “Okay, well I’ll keep going. Barney looked at the weird human things. He said that they seemed to be looking at him. Barney said that one of the figures said “Stay where you are ans stop moving.” Barney quickly ran back in the car.

Barney drove as fast as he could away from the human like figures. “They’re going to capture us!” Barney said. Betty and Barney heard buzzing sounds. The car started vibrating. A strange feeling went through Betty and Barney’s body. After that they felt very sleepy and confused. They couldn’t really remember what happened after that. Betty told her sister about what had happened. Her sister said to tell it to Pease and thats exactly what Betty did. She told Peas the story, so pilots wen tout looking, but couldn’t find anything. Betty and Barney’s car also had shiny marks on the trunk. Betty and Barney’s watches never worked again. Betty noticed on her dress, it was torn up.” I said in Exhaustment. “What happened next?” Delani asked. “I don’t know. We will never know.” I said. “Is it true, yes or no?”  Delani asked again. “Well, what do you believe?” I asked. “Hmm.” Delaini said. I could tell she was thinking hard. “I think it was true.” Delani finally said.

Anora D.
The Bluebird’s Lightning Lake
Writing, 10 years old and under
Inspired by Questionable Existence by Gail Allen

The bluebird has beauty in each feather.
In the sun, his delicate wings sparkle and shimmer.
He flies around in the warm weather,
But the lights are growing dimmer.

Swiftly the bird swoops down to the flower,
With drooping petals, fragile and white,
Unaware of the lake’s great power.
All of a sudden appears a grand light!

With a stunning crack of thunder,
The shining light disappears,
Leaving the bird in wonder
And awakening his fears.

The lake is the noble king,
The one who holds the crown.
A sorrowful song the bird shall sing,
Not getting too close, afraid he’ll drown.

Something is horribly wrong,
But the bird does not have a clue.
So, he finished his sad song,
And away he flew!

Our Young Artists Contest will be open next April with our 2027 Exhibition!