PITTSFORD â Police, climate change and LGBTQ issues were the topics that the winners of the first Brandon Writes contest chose to focus their essays on. Brandon Writes is a contest put on by Michael Shank, of Brandon, who was behind the Brandon Environmental Film Competition. Both are similar in concept. Students in the Brandon area submit films, or in this case pieces of writing, and their work is judged locally with cash prizes awarded by Shank. Taking the $500 first prize was Jazmin Rivera, an eighth-grader at Otter Valley Middle School, who wrote âInequality of Police Brutality.â Rivera, of Pittsford, won her first essay contest last year after being told about it by her English teacher, Cameron Perta, who makes a habit of informing his students about contest opportunities.