COSTA MESA : Gems to Be Awarded to Top Young Writers

A local diamond merchant will award gems to young Orange County writers who express love for their mothers in a Mother’s Day essay or poem.

Jeweler Michael Watson will award a $400 diamond to the best young writer and sapphires to the 10 runners-up.

He also plans to award 200 African garnets to the next runners-up.

Watson said his mother gave him up for adoption in Indiana when she was 22, for reasons unknown.

When Watson was 17, he searched for her using various records but was unsuccessful.

An essay or poem entered in Watson’s writing contest should be an “academic exercise on motherly love, whether or not the student knows his natural mother,” Watson said.

Last year, Watson gave jewels to 50 students for their writing, including a quarter-carat diamond to winner Margaret Ketchersid, a sophomore at Edison High School in Huntington Beach.

Part of Ketchersid’s poem read: “This angel, my mother, gives of herself / And illuminates me with compassion’s true wealth.”

The contest is for Orange County students in grades 7 through 12.

Entries will be evaluated on the theme “Why Mom Deserves a Diamond.”

Prizes will be awarded on Mother’s Day, May 8.

Submissions should be fewer than 100 words and must arrive before April 25 at Gallery of Diamonds, 2915 Red Hill Ave., Suite G-102, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.