BUT FIRST

but fi rst...

Outshining the Others

EVERY SEPTEMBER SINCE 2010, WIKIPEDIA HOLDS AN INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST to celebrate historical monuments and other heritage sites. Called Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the competition is fi ercely stiff – in 2011, the Guinness Book of World Records reported that it was offi cially the largest photography contest in existence, and a whopping 10,700 contestants from 43 countries submitted nearly 277,000 photos in 2016. The ranks of WLM hopefuls only grew in 2020, but this time the fi nalists included one of our own. Coming in sixth place out of more than 6,000 U.S. submissions, Elizabeth Neal of Milepost Living Photography took top honors with this stunning light-streaked image of Bodie Island Lighthouse (above) – a photo which was originally taken as part of a commission for the fall 2019 edition of the North Beach Sun. While Elizabeth acknowledges that there can be an element of luck involved in photography, taking a picture of this caliber undeniably takes a good deal of skill, and sometimes, a healthy dose of patience. “After I got the assignment, I thought it would be neat to have some great clouds in the background,” she explains. “So I waited for summer storms to come through, and went out there twice with no luck – but the third time was a charm.”

Author photo of Katrina Mae Leuzinger.

Reading Rainbow

MAKING IT IN THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS AIN’T EASY – just ask any aspiring writer how many unfi nished manuscripts they’ve got squirreled away in a desk drawer somewhere. But for North Beach Sun freelance writer extraordinaire (and Kill Devil Hills resident) Katrina Mae Leuzinger, the persistence it takes to get your work noticed ultimately paid off when she

recently signed a two-year contract with indie press Dreaming Big

Publications to publish her forthcoming novel, The Fairy Thief, in the fall of 2022. “It only took a year of looking for an agent – and 115 query letters,” Katrina says with a laugh as she talks about her light-hearted urban-fantasy/romance debut manuscript. “I got a lot of rejections, so when I fi nally got the email from [Dreaming Big], my whole brain sort of fi zzled out. Now I’m just working on things with my editor – and planning on a sequel.”

Moving on Up

Will Deane is held aloft by his peers after his NSSA win this past October. Photo courtesy of Shawn Deane.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2020, 12-YEAR-OLD WILL DEANE GRACED THE COVER of the North Beach Sun as surfi ng’s next big thing – and he hasn’t rested on his laurels since then. If anything, Will closed out 2020 – the most successful year of his competitive career so far – with the major win of a national title as part of the National Scholastic Surfi ng Association’s (NSSA) Explorer competition, which was held at Jennette’s Pier this past October. But going from his home break to his big break wasn’t easy – and the stats bear this out. By the end of 2020, Will was #1 ranked number one in the NSSA’s 12-and-under Explorer division, and tied for fi rst place in the U.S. Surfi ng Prime East’s 14-and-under division. Training for this level of competition isn’t for the faint of heart. As long as the swells are good, Will can train as much as

four to seven days a week for two to three hours per day

in good weather – and this jumps to seven days a week for six to eight hours per day when he’s traveling for the sport. Speaking of traveling, Will clocked an impressive 11 fl ights in order to train or compete professionally in 2020 – including one trip each to Carolina Beach, Texas, Hawaii and Costa Rica, three trips to California, and four to Florida – which logged him nearly 21,353 frequent fl yer miles.