Ed Lindsey Jr.

LAHAINA – The Lahaina News Writing Contest has been launched with an impressive list of prizes to be awarded to students entering the second annual literary competition.

“I am always heartened by the generosity of our West Side community,” said contest organizer Louise Rockett.

“The goal is to stimulate the students to enter and take advantage of an exceptional, one-of-a-kind educational opportunity. With some amazing contributions from the good people of West Maui, we now know we can,” Rockett added.

Students motivated to enter the contest will be vying for Maui Jim Sunglasses, OluKai Premium Footwear, $100 Lahaina Pizza Company gift certificate, $100 Mala Ocean Tavern gift certificate and gift certificates from private donors Life Coach Kim Willis, Robin Ritchie and Rockett Ranch Enterprises.

The competition is open to all West Maui students grades 6-8 and 9-12, including home-schoolers.

First, second and third place prizes will be awarded in both divisions. The Ed Lindsey Award and Most Creative prize will be given on an overall basis.

The Ed Lindsey Award-winning article will be published in the Lahaina News

Each year the cultural literary contest, inspired by the life of community leader Ed Lindsey Jr., features a Hawaiian value.

The first annual event honored the value of aloha. The 2011 challenge is to write about the meaning of malama.

“The two important Hawaiian values my dad shared were malama and aloha. He not only shared it — he was a living example of all things Hawaiian,” explained Edwin “Ekolu” Lindsey III.

To learn more about this important Hawaiian quality, the Lindsey ‘Ohana invites students to immerse themselves in an act of malama by spending a day in Honokowai Valley with Maui Cultural Lands on Saturday, Feb. 12.

To sign up for the excursion to Honokowai, the breadbasket of Keka’a, e-mail Maui Cultural Lands at MCL@hawaii.rr.com.

For more information about the contest, e-mail lahnews@maui.net, visit www.lahainanews.com (the contest flyer will be posted with this article) or call Editor Mark Vieth at 667-7866 for a copy of the rules.