The winning student authors of the "Real Women" Writing Competition and the women they wrote about, along with the authors' teachers and families, were honored at an awards presentation on March 30 in the Sinaloa Middle School Library.

At the event, the youths received awards and read their winning essays.

Local eighth-grade students wrote about women who've made a difference in their lives, such as mothers, grandmothers, friends, church leaders, teachers and coaches.

The essay competition is sponsored by Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honorary society for women in education, in conjunction with the Simi Valley Unified School District Educational Services Division in celebration of National Women's History Month.

Following are the winning authors:

Sinaloa Middle School: Melanie Tran, Mahnoor Saleem, Valerie Kunzelmann.

Hillside Middle School: Cody Cartwright, Patrick Caldwell, Katie Lovell.

Valley View Middle School: Kelley McLain, Ankita Devareddy, Zach Schultz.