BIG WINNERS—Camarillo residents Roni Hooper and Bill Stermer hold their second- and first-place awards for the 12th annual Ventura County Writers Club Short Story Contest, which celebrated its winners at the Pleasant Valley Senior Center on Jan. 11. Stermer won first place for his story “The Last Speed Run” and Hooper won second for “Holding onto Hawaii.” RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers Bill Stermer rummaged through the messy office in his Camarillo home in search of a story he had written 34 years earlier.

He found it on a bookshelf, safely tucked away in a blue, three-ring binder with the neatly typed words as fresh as they were in 1977.

It brought back memories for the 64-year-old, and after some fine-tuning of the story, Stermer completed “The Last Speed Run.”

Despite sitting for more than three decades among Stermer’s other papers, the story found new life as the first-place winner of the 12th annual Ventura County Writers Club Short Story Contest.

Stermer isn’t the only writer in the city who found success with the written word.

Fellow Camarillo resident Roni Hooper won second place for her story “Holding onto Hawaii” while Camarillo resident Frank Leupp received an honorable mention for his short story.

The trio of locals, along with three other winners, were honored at a reception at the Camarillo Senior Center on Jan. 11.

“(Stermer and Hooper) hooked the reader right away,” said Claudette Young, co-chair of the contest. “They had excitement. They held the reader’s interest, and you had a feeling of compassion for the protagonist.”

More than 100 short stories from across the nation were entered into the contest. A panel of eight judges read the stories and narrowed the list. A panel of three judges read the remaining stories, and a final group of judges chose the three winners and the three honorable mentions.

Stermer won $500 and Hooper won $250.

Young said the contest is always exciting because it encourages both established and new writers to write a short story.

“It seems (writing) is becoming a lost art,” Young said. “Many of the stories are inspiring, and we need inspiration and creativity in today’s world.”

A young man’s dream

Bill Stermer said he always knew writing was his passion in life. Although it had been a childhood dream, by the time he was 30 years old he had hit a few roadblocks on his journey to becoming a professional writer.

He didn’t have much luck finding a job as a writer during his 20s, so he worked in the employment department for the state of Michigan to pay the bills.

When he was 30, he wrote his award-winning story of a worldclass speed skier faced with conquering the face of a dangerous Chilean mountain.

Stermer and the story’s protagonist shared a frustration of wanting to accomplish a lifelong goal but not knowing if they could.

The day after Stermer wrote the story, he received a call from a motorcycle magazine in California offering him a position as a staff writer.

He’s been a professional writer ever since.

“The story’s message is to try to follow your dream,” Stermer said. “It’s to succeed in what you want to do even though it seems far- fetched. You never know until you try.”

Stermer is a freelance writer for Rider magazine and V-Twin, both local motorcycle magazines.

He is fine-tuning a novel written by a friend’s father. The book is the true story of the man’s role as a freedom fighter in Yugoslavia during World War II.

Stermer and his wife, Margery, have two children, Paul, 20, and Julia, 18.

A creative outlet

Roni Hooper has always been drawn to some form of writing. She kept a poetry journal during childhood, and she wrote about people’s struggles as part of her communications job with nonprofit California Wellness Foundation.

Now a full-time mom, she dove into the world of short stories just three years ago, inspired by the same contest she just won.

When Hooper entered this year’s contest, she returned to one of the first short stories she wrote a few years ago.

In “Holding onto Hawaii,” Hooper writes the story of a 5-year-old girl who thinks she’s a ghost and believes Hawaii is heaven.

“I think many people feel like they could be a ghost at certain times in their life,” Hooper said. “They think, ‘Would anybody notice if I were here or not?’”

Hooper will donate her $250 contest prize to KidCare International, a nonprofit she worked with to help educate and provide medical help to children in Tanzania.

Hooper said she enjoys writing and winning second place has given her more motivation to continue her “creative outlet.”

“I think it’s an introspective process so I learn more about myself and others when I reflect on the human condition and everything that’s going on around me,” she said.

Hooper has lived in Camarillo for 15 years with her husband, Doug, and their children, 10- year- old Rene and 8-year-old Sean.

She is able to write when her children are at school or late at night after they’ve gone to bed.

Hooper said she doesn’t have any specific plans for future writing projects, although she hopes to write more realistic short stories and maybe a novel.

She said writing is something she does because she enjoys it and it gives her a chance to express her creativity.

“There’s a creative impulse in human beings to create something that didn’t exist before,” Hooper said. “If we encourage that we can create more beauty. It’s one of the most important things we can do as humans.”