West Roxbury 7th Grader Honored in Will McDonough Writing Contest

West Roxbury's Benjamin Kimball receives a print version of his 2016 William McDonough Writing Contest winning essay “My Shelf” from Jackie MacMullan.

WEST ROXBURY, MA - A West Roxbury resident was crowned a winner in the 2016 Will McDonough Writing Contest earlier this month.

Benjamin Kimball, a student at Catholic Memorial School, was awarded first place in the grade 7 division of the competition for his essay "My Shelf."

The Will McDonough Writing Contest is presented annually by The Sports Museum and co-sponsored by Bank of America and the Boston Globe. Each year approximately 2,000 students in grades 4-12 send the museum entries, which are voted on by judges from the Globe.

Kimball's essay will be on display in the Will McDonough exhibit at The Sports Museum throughout the month. On April 8, Kimball and his fellow winners were also honored at a ceremony at TD Garden.

In addition to having their work available for the public to read, the winners all received e-readers and were granted the opportunity to watch the Boston Celtics take on the Milwaukee Bucks from the press box at the Garden.

According to a press release the aim of the contest is "to encourage the development of language and writing skills while incorporating the topic of sports and concepts such as teamwork, respect, and perseverance."

It is named after Will McDonough, a Globe columnist for four decades who was the paper's only sports writer to be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.