Sporty’s reveals winners of young pilots writing contest

Katia Van Horn, a full-time flight instructor from Missouri, is the winner of the 2025 Richard L. Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots.

Her article, “Cruising Through the Soaring Blues,” was selected as the entry that best answered this year’s writing prompt: “My Most Memorable Flight.” Van Horn describes the triumphs and tribulations of her first soaring competition as her most memorable flight.

Van Horn recounts having to deal with challenging weather, which included weak thermals and intense heat, to begin the multi-day event. Day three was the pinnacle of her flying competition, as she was able to team fly with her glider-pilot mentor and enjoy the peacefulness of soaring.

Van Horn is also a glider instructor and tows in a Cessna 150 for her gliding club, Midwestern Soaring Association. One of her passions is helping youth get involved with aviation and high schoolers are some of her favorite students.

Air Facts Editor-in-Chief and Sporty’s CEO, John Zimmerman, awarded Van Horn the $5,000 prize to encourage her aviation and writing pursuits, and the winning article was published in Air Facts.

This year’s contest also offered a second prize, which was awarded to Kathryn Breidenthal, a student pilot from North Texas, for her article, “Tailstrikes and Tiedowns.”

Breidenthal describes her memorable first solo experience, which did not go as planned after an unstable approach. While she was able to recover, she discusses the feeling of disappointment but the many lessons learned that reach far beyond aviation.

Breidenthal was awarded $2,500 and her article also was published in Air Facts.

The Richard L. Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots is funded through royalties from Collins’s book sales and supported by the Sporty’s Foundation.

Air Facts began publication in 1938, edited by Richard’s father, Leighton Collins, and the magazine was a starting point for authors such as Wolfgang Langewiesche, Bob Buck, Bill Mauldin, and Richard Bach. Sporty’s relaunched Air Facts as an online magazine in 2011.

For more information: AirFactsJournal.com