The William Faulkner -William Wisdom
Creative Writing Competition

2005 Winners, Finalists
Best Novel, 2005
Because a Fire was in My Head
By Lynn Stegner, Santa Fe, NM


Photo by: Jennifer Esperanza

The Winner
Lynn Stegner has written four novels, Undertow and Fata Morgana, both nominated for the National Book Award, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn, which was awarded the Faulkner Society's Gold Medal for Best Novella, and most recently, Because a Fire Was in My Head (Faulkner Award for best novel 2005). She has also written short stories, poems, and nonfiction essays and articles. Among others, she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Western States Arts Council, as well as a Fulbright Scholarship to Ireland. Ms. Stegner has taught fiction writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Vermont, the National University of Ireland, Galway, College of Santa Fe, and she currently directs the Santa Fe Writers' Workshop. At work on a collection of short stories entitled The Anarchic Hand, she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her husband, the writer Page Stegner, and her daughter, Allison.

First Runner Up
Blue Hole
By Sarah Stark Doyle, Santa Fe, NM
Second Runner Up
The Sign for Drowning
By Rachel Stolzman, New York, NY

Judged by:
Bret Lott is author of Jewel, selected by Oprah, and other novels, essarys, and short fiction. Just released is his collection of short fiction: The Difference Between Women and Men. In a highly competive search, Lousiana State University selected Lott to revamp and edit the important literary journal created years ago by Robert Penn Warren, The Southern Review. He teaches creative writing at LSU. Previously, he taught creative writing at The College of Charleston, where he revamped that institution's literary journal, Crazy Horse. Bret will be on sabbatical this fall, teaching in Israel.

Best Novella, 2005
Maidenhill Grange
By Michael Dahlie, Brooklyn, NY


The Winner:
Michael Dahlie has had short stories in Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, and
Mississippi Review. He lives in New York City.

First Runner Up
Down at the Egyptian Room
By Michael Pritchett, Kansas City, Mo
Second Runner Up
Sparrows
By Robin Beeman, Occidental, CA
Third Runner Up
A Yard Full of Robins
By Nuke DeLoach, Lexington, SC

Judged By:
Moira Crone is author of three novels, a collection of short fiction entitled Dream State, and the winning novella in last year's competition, The Ice Garden, which as since been accepted for publication and will be out shortly. Her new collection of short fiction, What Gets Into Us, has been widely praised by such excellent writers as Doris Betts, who had this to say in her review:

Fayton, N.C., has here its own Sherwood Anderson as Crone interweaves fourdecades of a
town's dreams and secret sorrows. Her skill at plot and suspense so magnify each story
that together they interlock and become a complex and satisfying novel. It's like watching a
magician pull from a hat a giant, astonishing rabbit who fills the stage while discussing
reality and beauty in rich, literary language. All the parts of these fictions are wonderful, but their sum is a spellbinding whole.

Ms. Crone helped create and directed the MFA program at LSU for some years. She still teaches creative writing at LSU and at such important institutions as The University of Prague. Currently, she devotes more of her time to her own writing.

The Evans Harrington Grant
Best Novel-in-Progress, 2005
The Widow's Season
By Laura Brodie, Lexington, VA


The Winner
Laura Brodie grew up in Raleigh, NC and now lives in Lexington, VA withher husband and three daughters.She has a BA from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She teaches English and AmericanLiterature at Washington and Lee University.
Her first book, BreakingOut: VMI and the Coming of Women,
was published by Pantheon andVintage, and covers the transition to coeducation at the Virginia
Military Institute. After home-schooling her fifth grade daughter for oneyear, she is currently writing about their ups and downs. Her goal is to produce a book that is part mother-daughter memoir, part educationalodyssey, which talks about using home-schooling sabbaticals for kids to supplement the public school curriculum.

First Runner Up
Giacometti Glasses
By Eli Epstein-Deutsch & David Rice, Northampton, MA
Second Runner Up
Cooking Lessons
By Tena L. Russ, Riverwoods, IL
Third Runner Up
The Housekeeper
By Jennifer Vacciano, Denver, CO

Judged By:
Michael Malone is author of numerous successful novels, including the rollickingly funny, Handling Sin, a grits and gravy, bestselling retelling of Don Quixote. Malone is also an extremely successful writer and consultant for daytime television, including the long-running Soap Opera, One Life to Live. Malone, who was graduated from and has a Ph.D. from Harvard University, divides his time between a home in Connecticut and his plantation residence, Burnside, in Hillsboro, near Chapel Hill, NC.

Best Short Story, 2005
The History of the World
By Robin Black, Bala Cynwyd, PA


The Winner:
Robin Black's fiction has appeared in numerous publications including the Alaska Quarterly Review, Indiana Review, Colorado Review, Bellevue Literary Review and Southern Review. A MacDowell Colony Fellow and recipient of a Leeway Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, she has twice received Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize Volume. Robin is a 2005 graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, and lives with her husband and three children in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

First Runner Up
Mater Amabilis
By Yvonne Harrison Solow
Second Runner Up
Found
By Joyce Miller, Cincinnati, OH
Third Runner Up
A Thousand Dances
By Naomi Benaron, Tucson, AZ

Judged by:
Tom Franklin is winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Prize and the Phillip Roth Prize and Chair and other prizes for his collection of short fiction, Poachers. Franklin, who also was Tennessee Williams Fellow at Sewanee for a year as well as a Guggenheim Fellow, holds the John and Renee Grisham Chair of Creative Writing at Oxford, MS, where he lives with his wife, well known poet Beth Ann Fennelly. He is author of the novel, Hell at the Breech, which received widespread critical acclaim. His new novel, just released similarly is receiving advance praise from the critics.

Best Essay, 2005
Premature Archeology
By Carlos Cunha, West Hartford, CT


The Winner
Carlos Cunha was born in the Azores and raised in South Africa. He became a fulltime journalist at 18 and has plied that trade since. In South Africa he worked for the Eastern Province Herald and the magazines Bona, Africa Today, and Scope; in the United States, for The Standard-Times of New Bedford and CNN.Com. He is now a copy editor at the Hartford Courant. His fiction was published in DoubleTake magazine and he is a past essay finalist in the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing contest. In the 2006 Competition, Cunha, whose work is described by various preliminary round judges as clean, crisp, no nonsense, "plain good writing", is a finalist in three categories: novel, novella, and short story.

First Runner Up
Volvo Trash
By Katy Read, Minneapolis, MN
Second Runner Up
Nowhere, UK
By Jane Satterfield, Baltimore, MD

Judged by:
Jack Davis is Vice President of the Tribune Corporation and Publisher of The Hartford Courant, one of the most important and successful daily newspapers in the north east and the oldest newspaper in America. He is vice president of the Tribune Publishing Corporation and previous assignments with the Tribune Corporation have included publisher of the Newport News paper, and Pulitzer Prize news editor of The Chicago Tribune. Davis, before he joined the Tribune group, founded the New Orleans alternative newspaper, Figaro, and was news editor of The States-Item, since merged with The Times-Picayune. Some year's ago, Davis judged the Society's essay category and selected Barbara Robinette Moss's essay, encouraged her to expand it to a full length memoir, Change Me Into Zeus's daughter, and assisted her in finding a publisher. The book received widespread national media attention. Her second book, Fierce, was released last year.

Best Poem, 2005
Grand Isle is Sinking
By Ed Skoog, Palm Springs, CA

The Winner
Ed Skoog is a poet living and teaching near Palm Springs in southern California, after many years in New Orleans. In New Orleans, he was a member of the creative writing teaching team at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Riverfront. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, The New Republic, The New Orleans Review, Mississippi Review, and other literary magazines. He has been a scholar at the Sewanee and Bread Loaf writers conferences, and a finalist for the Yale Younger Poets Award. He is a contributor to Intersections, the Press Street collection of New Orleans writing and art.

Runners Up (with no ranking by Judge)
After Images
By Gail Waldstein, Denver, CO

John Donne on His Deathbed
By Nadine Meyer, Columbus, MO

The Market where Blankets Bend
By Emily Lupita Plum, Lovilla, IA

 

Judged by:
Katie Ford, who teaches creative writing at Loyola University, is the author of the poetry collection, Deposition, published by Graywolf, and her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Partisan Review, Seneca Review, and Poets & Writers. Recently, her poem Colosseum received full page cover treatment in The American Poetry Review.

Best Story by a High School Student, 2005
Crystal
By Chanel Clarke, New Orleans, LA


The Winner
Chanel Clarke, born in New Orleans in 1987, is the daughter of Veronica Norris and Frank Norris, III. She was graduated from Benjamin Franklin Senior High School in 2005 and also received a Certificate of Artistry in Creative Writing from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Riverfront, in 2005. This summer she worked at Opequon Quaker Camp in Virginia and will begin her sophomore at Amherst College shortly. She hopes to continue writing and is considering pursuing an MFA in creative writing.. She has not yet decided on a specific career but hopes either to teach or administer a non-profit organization with an educational mission.


First Runner Up
Things Past
By Taylor Murrow, New Orleans, LA
Second Runner Up
Lost in Space
By Laura Zax, Washington, DC
Third Runner Up
Always
By Kelsey Donohue Malatesta, Orefield, PA

Judged by:
Josh Emmons is the author of the new novel, The Loss of Leon Mead, which was released by Scribner's in the Spring and already is being translated for German, Israeli, and Dutch audiences, in the wake of many exceptionally favorable reviews in literary and publishing journals, including Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. Currently, he is writing full time. Previously, he was Writer in Residence at Loyola University, studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop, and won such prestigious honors as The James A. Michener Award for first fiction. His critical reviews, essays, and short fiction have appeared in a variety of journals.

Other Finalists, 2005

Novel
A Strippers Tale by Roz Unruth, Hockessin, DE
The Amazing Morton by Brian Rogers, Salinas, CA
Almost Finalists
Bang The Last Nail In by Amanda Bull, Fairfield, OH
Headaches by Chielozona Eze, Los Angeles, CA
Floorwork by Dylan Landis, Santa Monica, CA
Jane The Magnificent by Michele Ivy Davis, Palm Harbor, FL
Like a Stranger on Native Soil By Ross Pinsky, Haifa, Israel
Miles Christi by Tim Osner, Portsmouth, NH
Silent Storm by Ida Lambert, St. Louis, MO
Taming Judith by Mark Wiederanders, Carmichael; CA
The Final Effort of the Archer by Michael Pritchett, Overland Park, KS
The Last Harvest by Sheila Mulligan Koster, Valencia, CA
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, Tustin, CA
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen, Mandeville, LA
The Pilgrim Glass by Julie Rose, Santa Clara, CA
The Widow's Season by Laura Brodie, Lexington, VA

Novella
Another Life by Twyla Harrington, Willis, TX
At the Temple Gate by Rachel Stolzman, Brooklyn, NC
Coming to Kalapana by JoAllen Bradham, Marietta, GA
Heart on a Wire by Cary Holladay, Memphis, TN
No More Ghost Stories by Kate Betterton, Chapel Hill, NC
Picture This by Carol Morrison, Tampa, FL
Raging Seas by George C. Daughan, Passe-A-Grille, FL
Snapdragon Nightmares by James Donaldson, Summerville, SC
Someone Drowning by Maureen Sherbondy, Raleigh, NC
So Much Better by Terry Griffith, Chicago, IL
The Buford Collier Legend by Twister Marquiss, San Marcos, TX
The Green Giant Harvests By Moonlight by Ed Skoog, Palm Beach, CA
The Hobbyist by John Bullock, Athens, OH
The Nuns on the Roof of St. Peter's by Emily Meier

Novel - in - Progress
Evangeline: A Tale of Love by Jon Kemp, New Orleans, LA
Fakir, Rogue, Thief by Dana Sheehan, Aurora, CO
Girls Wearing White Gloves by Katherine Easer, Cypress, CA
Grand Finale by James Arturo Pounds, Austin, TX
Looking for Shelter by Monica Arlene Gold, Massapequa, NY
Push Play by Joyce Miller, Cincinnati, OH
Sandpiper Key by Jacob Appel, New York, NY
September by Ben Bowie, Lafayette, LA
The Fifth Season by Linda Busby Parker, Mobile, AL
The Glory Hole by Anne Elliott, Brooklyn, NY
The Neutral Ground by David Bock, Marrero, LA
The Password by Kiki Denis, New York, NY
The Perfect Journey by George Wen, New York, NY
Victory's Pain by George C. Daughan, Pass-A-Grille, FL
Ways of Seeing by Lee Reilly, Chicago, IL
Welcome to My Lucky Life by Geoff Schutt, Chicago, IL

Short Story
Accomplice by Patricia Stiles, Venice, CA
Ad Astra Per Aspera by Ed Skoog, Palm Beach, CA
Birth by Jennifer Moses, Baton Rouge, LA
Blackberry Pie by Reine Dugas Bouton, Metairie, LA
Chicken by Lynn Pruett, Oxford, MS
Delacroix by Dylan Landis, Santa Monica, CA
Horse Graveyards by Megan Williams, Santa Clara, CA
Horst Wenckhaus Takes the Next Step by Terrence O'Keeffe, Pearl River, NY
Living Expenses by Julie Chagi, Scotts Valley, CA
Occupied Territory by Amanda Briggs
Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Johnny Come Over by Joyce Blaylock, Nashiville, TN
Saved by Bob Sloan, Morehead, KY
Saving the Dummy by Regina La Barre, New York, NY
Subtitled by N. M. Kelby, Sarasota, FL
Spiderman Summer by Laura Brodie, Lexington, VA
Taller by John Bullock, Athens, OH
The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Boris by Catherine King, Tampa, FL
The Enemy by Jo LeCoeur, San Antonio, TX
The Infinitieth Monkey by Eden Robins, Washington, DC
The Last Mule in Sunrise by Buck Rish, Chocowinity, NC
Three Wild Monkeys in Paradise by Becky Browder, Jacksonville, AL
Wild Onions by Eunice Beavers, Princeton, KY

Essay
Apple Pie: Tasting America by Bharti Kirchner, Seattle, WA
Black Like Me, Katheryn Krotzer Laborde, River Ridge, LA
Brazilian Bikinis by Andrea Young, New Orleans, LA
Connect by Pepper Sessum, Old Jefferson, LA
Dream Maker by Garry Wallace, Powell, WY
Love Means Nothing by Ethel Morgan Smith
Mohammed and the Park Bench by Pat Gallant, New York, NY
On Sitting by Anthony M. DiLeo, New Orleans, LA
She Loves Me Not by Jacob Appel, New York, NY
The Black Widow by Pat Gallant, New York, NY
The Cat in Mercator by Marilyn Moriarty, Roanoke, VA
The Other Side of Sexual Harrassment by Ronald Wade, Rockwall, TX
Use Your Head by Garry Wallace, Powell, WY
My Father's Music by Ned Balbo, Baltimore, MD
Walking Backwards in Takamatsu by Linda Lancione Moyer, Berkeley, CA

Poetry
Alewife by Irene Mosvold, Louisville, KY
Aliferous by Anthony M. DiLeo, New Orleans, La
Antiquarian by Irene Mosvold, Louisville, KY
Blowing Bubbles by Daniel J. Held, Ruckersville, VA
Captive by Junie Rabin, Pembroke Pines, FL
Fred by Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Heart Poem by Jennifer Clement, Colonio El Toro, Mexico
I Never Thought About Being Short by Elaine Dallman, San Francisco, CA
Martyr by Sonja Bloetner, Berwyn Heights, MD
Mary of the Moon by Margaret Boothe Baddour, Goldsboro, NC
Ode to an Artichoke by Fletcher Wood, Nashville, TN
Old Times by Kiki Denis, New York, NY
Post Surgery Doctor by Robin J. Arcus, Durham, NC
Run Sheep, Run by N. Colwell Snell, Salt Lake City, UT
The Green Dress by Susan Lewis of Cantonment, FL
The Old Tree is Dying by M. L. Dunser, Columbus, MS
The Seven Heavenly Virtues by William H. Roetzheim

Short Story by A High School Student
Chapter 27 of Deepak Khandpur's Guarding Theresa:
Mother Theresa's Face by Uma Nagendra, New Orleans, LA
Composition by Amy Arthur, Mandeville, LA
Dog Food by Blake B. Whalen-Encalarde, New Orleans, LA
Evergreen by Anya Work, New Orleans, LA
Germ: A Journal by Ben Luton, Covington, LA
Horizons by Joanna Rotondo-McCord, Mandeville, LA
I Once Walked in the Woods, Searching for Grandfather by Justin McMinn, Fort Morgan, CO
Of Love and Jazz by Haydn Fogel, Chinn Valley, AZ
Quasar by Daiquiri Rene Jones, New Orleans, LA
Saturday Morning by Braden Gidyett, Falmouth, MA
The Defeat of Leviathan by Christine R. Wilson, Fairbanks, AK
The Grave Keeper by Jennifer Christie, Carbondale, IL
The Remembrance of Meteors by Sophie Huber, Bethesda, MD
The Retakes by Gail McWilliams, New Orleans, LA
Where Do Broken Hearts Go by Willie T. Montgomery, Jr., Accokeek, MD

Important!
The postmark deadline for 2008 is May 1. For details, click here on Guidelines.

Winners, 2004
William Faulkner - William Wisdom Competition
The winning manuscripts from the 2004 competition were Novel: The Grave Digger by Rob Magnuson Smith of Santa Monica, CA; Novella: The Ice Garden by Moira Crone of New Orleans, LA; Novel-in-Progress, Jerusalem as a Second Language by Rochelle Distelheim of the Chicago, IL area; Short Story: The Attaturk of the Outer Boroughs by Jacob Appel of New York, NY; Essay: She's Gone by Fred Setterberg of Santa Clara, CA; Poetry: The Burning of Parliament, 1834 by Steve Gehrke of Columbia,MO; Short Story by a High School Student: Digging by Kezia Kamenetz of New Orleans, LA. For more information about these winners and their judges, along with na


Winners, 2004

Best Novel, 2004:
The Grave Digger

by Rob Magnuson Smith of Los Angeles, CA

Judged by André Bernard, Senior Editor, Vice President, Publisher, Adult Trades,
Harcourt Publishers, Inc.

Prize Given by Marie Shannon Monroe, a New Orleanian who divides her time between Louisiana and Colorado. She is married to entrepreneur James Monroe. They live in the French Quarter.
Rob Magnuson Smith was born in 1970. He grew up in England, attended high school in Oregon, and graduated with honors from Pitzer College in Claremont, California with degrees in philosophy and psychology. His work has appeared in a variety of literary magazines including Inkwell, Asphodel, and next spring in Karamu. This year he was a finalist in the Poets & Writers/Barnes & Noble California Voices Fiction Contest. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Runner-Up: A Lifetime Burning by A. G. Harmon of Washington, DC.


Best Novella, 2004:
The Ice Garden

By Moira Crone of New Orleans, LA

Judged by Fiction Writer Janette Turner Hospital, one of Australia's leading writers, who currently holds the James Dickey Chair in Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina, author of
Due Preparations for the Plague, nominated for Australia's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award combined.

Prize Made Possible By
Rosemary James & Joseph DeSalvo, founders of The Faulkner Society and Words & Music, owners of 624 Pirate's Alley, where William Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldiers' Pay, in 1925.

Moira Crone's prize-winning novella The Ice Garden is part of her forthcoming collection. She won the Faulkner Society's award for short story in 1993 for her story set in Louisiana, Dream State, which subsequently became the lead story for her published collection of the same name. Her stories have also won inclusion in the New Best Stories from the South four times. Elysiana, her novel-in-progress, is set in the water-soaked ruins of New Orleans in the year 2128.

2004 was big year for her family. Her daughter, Kezia Kamenetz, won the gold medal for best short story by a high school student and her husband, Rodger Kamenetz, was a finalist in both the poetry and essay categories.

Equal Runners-Up are GOMI and Down at the Egyptian Room, by Malina Watrous of San Francisco, CA, and Micahel Prichett of Kansas City, MO, respectively.


Best Short Story By
A High School Student, 2004:
Digging

By Kezia Kamenetz

Prize Given by Insurance Executive Hartwig Moss, III and Arts Activist Nancy Moss
in honor of his mother, Betty Moss

Judged by Fiction WriterTom Piazza, Winner of James A. Michener Award for his collection,
Blues & Trouble and the Faulkner Society's Gold Medal for Best Novel for his debut novel,
My Cold War

Kezia Kamenetz is a senior at Benjamin Franklin High Schook and at New Orleans Center for
Creative Arts, Reiverfront, where her supervising teacher is Anne Gisleson, director of NOCCA;s
creative writing program. Kezia is the daughter of Moira Crone and Rodger Kamenetz, both writers. Her older sister, Anya also is a writer.


The Evans Harrington Grant
for Best Novel in Progress, 2004:
Jerusalem as a Second Lanugage

By Rochelle Distelheim of Chicago, IL


Judged by Elinor Lipman, author of In Pursuit of Alice Thrift, latest of her nine critically acclaimed books of fiction.
Prize Given by Edgar Award-winning Fiction Writer Julie Smith

Rochelle Distelheim's short fiction has been published in North American Review, Other Voices, StoryQuarterly, Nimrod, Confrontation, among others, as well as in several anthologies. she was awarded two literary prizes and five Fellowships in fiction by the Illinois Arts Council. Other awards include the Katharine Anne Porter Prize, two Sewanee Conference scholarships. She has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Ms. Distelheim lives in a Chicago suburb, as does her daughter, Laura Distelheim, who won the Faulkner Society's gold medal for Best Essay in 2001.

First Runner Up: The Perfect Journey
By George Wen of New York, NY
Second Runner Up: The Hobbyist
By John Bullock of Madison, WI

Best Short Story, 2004:
The Attaturk of the Outer Boroughs

By Jacob Appel of New York, NY

Judged by Master Fiction Writer and Poet Stuart Dybek, author of the brilliant new collection of
poetry, Streets in Their Own Ink

Prize Given by New Orleanian Dwight Thaggard, whose favorite leisure activity is reading and whose all time favorite author is Ernes Hemingway. The 2004 short story prize is given
in Memory of Ernest Hemingway

Jacob Appel has been published widely in both fiction and nonfiction, having written on such diverse topics as the Dutch Revolution, United States history, kidney transplantation, forcible treatment in the courtroom, and the question of euthanasia. In fiction, he has previously won the Boston Review Short Fiction Contest, the Dana Award, the Open Voice Fiction Award, the Blackberry Hill Creative Arts Award for short fiction, and has been nominated or short-listed for the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award. He has been an adjunct assistant professor at Brown University for two years, and is a licensed notary public, bartender, and New York City travel guide.

First Runner Up: This Whole Negativity Thing
by George Harrar, Wayland, MA

Second Runner Up: See Ben's Family
By Kenneth Kaye of Evanston, IL

Best Essay, 2004: 1934
She's Gone

By Fred Setterberg of Santa Clara, CA

Judged by Michael Dirda, Winner, Pulizer Prize For Criticism
Prize Given by Jana Napoli, New Orleanian and fournder of the inner city youth art guild, Ya-Ya, Inc., in honor of her mother, Ana Napoli

Fred Setterberg is the author of The Roads Taken: Travels Through America's Literary Landscapes, winner of the Associated Writing Program's award in creative nonfiction, and published by The University of Georgia Press. In 2006, Heyday Books will publish Under the Dragon: The Changing Face of the San Francisco Bay Area, co-written and photographed by Lonny Shavelson. Under the Dragon examines the ethnic and cultural changes now taking place in California. The book will be the focus of a major exhibition held at the Oakland Museum. Setterberg has also recently completed a book-length memoir about growing up working class and living middle class, and will soon begin work on another book of linked essays about the impact of music in our lives. He is the recipient of a NEA fellowship in creative writing and the winner of several journalism awards. He received his B.A. in English at UC Berkeley and his M.A. in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.

First Runner Up: The Book I Do Not Write in Eight Years
By Nicole Jerr of Northbrook, IL
Second Runner Up: An Elegy for Edith
By Margo Feeley of Berkeley, CA

Best Poem, 2004:
The Burning of Parliament, 1834
by Steve Gehrke of Columbia, MO
Judged by Daniel Halpern, Director, Ecco Press
Prize Given by Catherine P. Hill

Steve Gehrke's second book, The Pyramids of Malpighi, was selected by Philip Levine for the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and published by Anhinga Press in 2004. He has also won the Gulf Coast Poetry Prize, the Marlboro Review Prize for Poetry, and other prizes. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming at The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, Slate, The Georgia Review, and Poetry Daily. He is poetry editor at The Missouri Review. When Dan Halpern called to tell us he'd made his selections for winner and runner-up, he said, "these have just got to be by the same person!" Not quite, but close. The first runner-up is Dancing at the Moulin Rouge by Nadine Meyer. Ms. Meyer happens to be Mrs. Steve Gehrke!

First Runner-up:
Dancing at the Moulin Rouge
by Nadine Meyer, Columbia, MO
Second Runner-up: The Scavenger Hunt
by Jessica Mae Pavlas of Brooklyn, NY
Third Runner-up: Wings Echoing
by Emily Lupita Plum of Lovilia, IA

 

Other Finalists

Novel:
Fire on Mount Maggiore by John Parras of New Milford, NJ
In Real Life Women Don't Play Jazz by Kathleen De Grave of Pittsburg, KS
The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre by by Dominic Smith of Austin, TX

Novel Semi-Finalists:
A Place to Come Home to by Marj Casswell of Vancouver, WA
A Stripper's Tale by Roz Kuehn Unruth of Hockessin, DE
Barrington by Louis Williams of Brookings, SD
Bellafortuna by Chip LoCoco of New Orleans, LA
Bloodless by William Coles of Chapel Hill, NC
Dangerous to Self and Others by Robert G. Ripley of Seattle, WA
Extreme Consequences by Neil C. Hall, III of Mandeville, LA
Haints by Baker Lawley of Tuscaloosa, AL
In the Realm of Mere Consolation by Carlos Cunha, West Hartford, CT
Life's Fading Illusions, Tom Welsh, Xenia, OH
Long Shot by Donna C. Ebert of Caldwell, NJ
Lunch Bucket Paradise by Fred Setterberg of Oakland, CA
Occitania by Paul Byall of Savannah, GA
Precarious by Hope Coulter of Little Rock, AR
Sweet Opium by Rosary O'Neill of New Orleans, LA nad New York, NY
The Lotus Easters by Tatjana Soli of Tustin, CA
The Poison that Fascinates by Jennifer Clement of Mexico City, Mexico
Zinzi by Phyllis MacBryde of NewYork, NY

Novella:
The Madonna of the Parking Lot by Regina La Barre, New York, NY
This Rebellious House by Maureen Aitken, Minneapolis, MN

Novella Semi-Finalists:
Girls in Peril by Karen Lee Boren, Providence, RI
Erica's Books by Katie Bowler, Harahan, LA
Safe Shall Be My Going by Joan Corwin, Evanston, IL
To Cover Her Eyes By Dakin Dalpoas, Oglesby, IL
Rosamundo by B. de la Cuesta, Beachwood, NJ
Diary of a Pig by Charles Holdefer, Poitiers, France
Listen and Say Nothing More by Nancy Nye Knipe, Green Mountain Falls, CO
The Best Dress by Cindy Lou Levee, Baton Rouge, LA
The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, Philadelphia, PA
What is Owed by Louise Farmer Smith, Washington, DC
The House of Leaves by Angela Tung, Tuckahoe, NY
Palo Duro by

Novel - In - Progress: Finalists
And Soon There Will Be None by Joe Jenkins, Savannah, GA
A Soft, Leafy Brilliance by
Autobiography of My Twin by Anne Hellman, Brooklyn, NY
Back in the Day by Caitlin O'Neil, Cambridge, MA
Cadillac Day by Linda Wojtowick, Lake Oswego, OR
Caterpillars by Eileen Cronin, Arlington, VA
Cleaning Up by Cinthia Ritchie, Anchorage, AK
Courting Jane
Eugene in August by Barret O'Brien, New Orleans, LA
Isadora Liberated by Danella P. Hero, Belle Chasse, LA
Krewe of Venus by Jane Neathery Cutler, Minneapolis, MN
On Locust Street by Kathleen Crowley, Somerville, MA
Retroman by Bruce Wexler, Elmhurst, IL
Save Your Own by Elisabeth Brink, Newburyport, MA
Sympathy
Soon, There Will Be None
Taming Judith by Mark Wiederanders, Carmichael, CA
The Girl in the Lands' End Catalogue by Dale Edmundson of New Orleans, LA
The Luck of the Blue Dragonfly by Angela Lam, Santa Rosa, CA
The Monumental Hoax by B. J. Ryan, Bodfish, CA
The Queen of Cups by Amy S. Kennedy Foseen, New Brighton, MN
Tropical Depression by Rosary O'Neill, Ithaca, NY

Novel - In - Progress Semi-Finalists:
Black Time, by Otis Twelve, Walnut, IA
Blindspots by Sarah Stark Doyle, Santa Fe, NM
Computer Boy and the Frozen Ark.
Evremonde by Diana Mayer, Dulles, VA
Fooling the Sun by Gwen Strauss, Savannah, GA
For Zane by Amanda Luna, Caledonia, MS
Higher Ground by Michaael Shumate, High Point, NC
Into the Afterfall by Robert Gatewood, Water Valley, MS
Making the Good Times Last by Linda T. Wilson, Atlanta, GA
Or So You Say by Leah Fortson, New York, NY
Overdue by Peggy O'Neal Peden, Nashville, TN
Running Money by Rita Welty Bourke, Nashville, TN
Saluting the Sun by Mary Hutchings Reed, Chicago, IL
Tears Upon Sorrow by Laurie k. Walls, Titusville, FL
That's What I Want by Robert Morgan Fisher, Woodland Hills, CA
The Best Seat in the House by Maria Massei-Rosato, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
The Buddha in the Hot Tub by Anne Mini, Seattle, WA
The Antidote by Mary Hoffman, Brooklyn, NY
The Fog Machine by Susan Follett, Oakdale, MN
The Gestation of Pegasus by Del CoatesSan Jose, CA
The Ghost Car by Susan Dewell, Tulsa, OK
The Girl in the Bathturb by Robert Raymer, Penang, Malaysia
The Mermaid Chronicles by Donna Olson, Southhampton, NY
The Playhouse Society, Anita Kragelund Busbord, Roegilsvej, Denmark
The Tyranny of Seedless Things, Trevor John Bundy, New York, NY

Short Story
Einstein's Daughter by Mary Michael Wagner, San Francisco, CA
Scales by Mario Rene Padilla, Venice, CA
Lives of Mapmakers by Alicia L. Conroy, Minneapolis, MN
Local Boy by Laura Denham, London, England
See Ben's Family by
Dead Cat Bounce by Steve Hermanos
Erice by Janie Dempsey Watts
Thaw by Caitlin O'Neil
The Last Girl on Earth by Mary Michael Wagner, San Francisco, CA
What you ask for by A. C. Lambeth
She Plays by Effrem Sigel, New Rochelle, NY
This Whole Negativity Thing by George Harrar
Short Story Semi-Finalists
Adopt A Highway, David Comfort, Santa Rosa, CA
A Winter's Day, Robert Steven Williams, Westport, CT
Darkside, Elaine Winer, Morristown, NJ
Flowers and the Statue of Liberty
Fondling the Dark, Gail Waldstein, Denver, CO
Gatekeeper, Leslie Fish, Phoenix, AZ
Ghosts of Amsterdam, Larry Caldwell, Seaside Park, NJ
Going Home, Elinathan Ohiomoba, Houston, TX
Gone, Bill Lochfelm
Hardship Pay, Leighton Scott, Vilas, NC
How Things Might Be Otherwise
I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday, Michael H. Rudeen, Denver, CO
Lynchburg, David Snow, New Orleans, LA
Mojave, Katheryn Laborde, River Ridge, LA
Nor Dark of Night, Paul Michel, Seattle, WA
Passing on the Right, Robert J. Kriss, Winnetka, IL
Proof of a Man, Marilyn Moriarty, Roanoke, VA
Redemption, Amy K. Humphries, Dallas, TX
Something Else Entirely, Donna Lee Davis, Hartwood, VA
The Man Who Couldn't Lose, Scott Burkhead, Apex, NC
The Next Great Ice Age, Thomas Cooper, Gainesville, FL
The 78, Amanda Osgood Jonientz, Seattle, WA
The Testimony, J. Timothy Rice, Folsom, LA
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Love, Flowers, and The Statue of Liberty, Dale Edmonds, New Orleans, LA
Times Valuable by Bill Gregg, Louisville, KY

Essay Finalists
All It Took Was Oral Surgery by Katie Bindley, Chicago, IL
A Single Light: The Letters and Diaries of Sophie Scholl by A. K. Leibmann, Munich, Germany
Color by Karen Krotzer Laborde of River Ridge, LA
Deep by Karel Sloane of New Orleans, LA
Echoes in an Ear Canal by Gail Waldstein of Denver, CO
Feel Bad All Over by
Furukawa: Session 6/Skepticlaly Optimistic by Garry Wallace, Powell, WY
In the Name of the Bomb by Terre Ryan, Reno, NV
It's So Cliché by Leslie Lehr Spirson, Woodland Hills, CA
Larry by
Panic Attack by
Scoldings from Strangers by Katy Read, Minneapolis, MN
Susan and the Zunnis by Beth Alvarado, Tucson, AZ
The Meticulous Eye: Meditations on Poets who Paint by Ruth Moon Kempher, St. Augustine, FL
The Romance of Trash by Carlos Cunha, West Hartford, CT
The Scent of Russian Olive by
The Umbilical by Rodger Kamenetz, New Orleans, LA
Tune Lock by Rodger Kamenetz, New Orleans, LA
Women Die Well by Ellen Ann Fentress, Jackson, MS
Essay Semi-Finalists
Considering the Funeral, Mardith J. Louisell, San Francisco, CA
Daughters of Emipire, James Satterfield Batteman
Faces Wild: The Battle of Algiers Goes On, Steve Street, Buffalo, NY
Frightened George: How The Pediatric-Educational Complex Ruined the Curious Geore Series, Daniel Greenstone, Oak Park, IL
Fruit of Wisdom, Leah M. Cano, Santa Cruz, CA
Knowhere, UK, James Satterfield Batteman
Mind Fields, Thomas Maciocha, Palm Harbor, FL
Sticks and Stones, Wendy Reed Bruce, Bham, AL
The Girl Wanted to Be A Homeless Wanderer, Judy Copeland, Iowa City, IA
They Wore Green Corduroy, Susan Follett, Oakdale, MN
Writing's Parents: Silence and Stillness, Mal King, Santa Paula, CA

Poetry
A Boy's Kingdom by Daniel J. Held, Ruckersville, VA
Ariadneae, I. A. Mosvold, Louisville, KY
Before the Death Card, Khrynn Yvonne McManus, Prairieville, LA
Building by Scott Bailey, Hattiesburg, MS
Classical Black Woman by Trenise R. Robinson, New Orleans, LA
Garage Sale in D Minor by Michael Dunn, Sweet Valley, OH
Field of Dolls by Hanna Hurwitz, Milwaukee, WI
Headfirst Rantings of an Introvert by Tony Magee, New Orleans, LA
I Am the Family Historian by Billie Travolini, Baltimore, MD
I Speak in My Mother's Voice by Susan Terris, San Francisco, CA
In The Dark by Deborah Serra, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
I Want My Country Back by John Andrew Vescio
My Son by Abayomi Animashaun, Las Vegas, NV
Night Flight by James McEnteer, Oakland, CA
Once There Were Nightingales by S. T. Eleu, Chicago, IL
Pennies on a Hill, Rodger Kamenetz, New Orleans, LA
Return Trip By James McEnteer, Oakland, CA
The Crown of Creation by Manfred Pollard of New Orleans, LA
The Scavenger Hunt by Carrington MacDuffie, Seattle, WA
The first time I laid myself out open to an outside physician, Rodger Kamenetz, New Orleans, LA
True by Dawn McGuire, MD, Berkeley, CA
Uncertainties by Pat Gallant of New York, NY

Poetry Semi-Finalists
A lovely Design, Alan Walter Simpson, Castro Valley, CA
A Promise of Doves and Umbrellas, David Snow, New Orleans, LA
Before the Death Card, Khrynn Yvonne McManus, Prairieville, LA
Binary Vision,
Cosmocracy, Dennis Fomento (check name), New Orleans, LA
Crown of Creation, Manfred Pollard, New Orleans, LA
For This Alone, Marcia Ross, Cambridge, MA
Homages, Lynn Veach Sadler, Sanford, NC
In The Night, M. L. Dunser, Columbus, MS
Mirrored Snakes and Orchides, Amy Trussel, Santa Rosa, CA
My Son the Lynx, I. A. Mosvold, Louisville, KY
Near the Metro
North Lied to Him, Anthony DiLeo, New Orleans, LA
Nothing is Perfect, Billie Vasdev, Rochester, MN
Parade of Miraculous Champions, January 24, 2004,
Play Time, Nick Finnegan, Houston, TX
Ready for Stars, Joseph S. Plum, Lovilia, IA
That Woman, Anne McCrady, Henderson, TX
The Calling Card, Barbara Perry, Chicago, IL
The One Thing I could Never Tell You,
The Most Beautiful Girl, Kay Castaneda, Carmel, IN
The Square Root of Leopard, Carrington MacDuffie, Seattle, WA
The Tiger's Girl, Frank Sherry, Pottersville, MO
The Unfinished Book, Manfred Pollard, New Orleans, LA
Welcome to Midnight, Ryan Browne, Tucker, GA

Short Story By A High School Student
Be a Man
Head Over Heels
Liquid of the Heart
A Heap of Life
A Matter of Vibration
Insomnia and Cigarettes
Drive
Blue
Fragment
The Children's Story
The Walks of Dreams
Tomorrow
Train
God in Handcuffs
The Cry of Eagles
The Werewolf House
TV and Toddlers: An Experiment in Science
A parable of Feudal Backwardness
Medusa
Red
The Fisherman
Short Story By A High School Student, Semi-Finalists
April, Allison Carroll, Clancy, MT
Acting Unusually, Jessica Brock, ?
Blue 17, Allison Nicole Wiltz, New Orleans, LA, NOCCA, Sponsor, Anne Gisleson
God Will Increase, Renee Branum, Carbondale IL
Gourami, Uma Nagendra,
Hurricane,
Idle Hands,
Places That Boil and Freeze, Colin Gilbert, New Orleans, NOCCA, sponsor, Anne Gisleson
Into the Garden of the Dreammaker, Katherine Lieder, Carbondale, IL
Solve, Channel Clarke, New Orleans, NOCCA, sponsor: Ed Skoog
Team Spirit,
The Final Round, C. J. Stapley, Smithfield, UT
The Skin of a Kiwi, Samiron Dutta, Maritinez, GA
The Sweetest Honey, Logan Burda, Lincoln, NE,
Tree, Amy Arthur, Mandeville, LA, NOCCA, Sponsor, Anne Gisleson

2004 Judges

Novel:Andre Bernard, who is Vice President and Publisher, Harcourt Brace. Bernard also is a distinguished and respected editor, who held editorial positions at Book of the Month Club, Simon & Schuster, David R. Godine and Viking Penguin before joining Harcourt Brace. Truly a renaissance man, Bernard is is a seasoned critic, frequently reviewing books for the New York Observer; and he is the author of several highly entertaining non-fiction works about books and writers and readers, including most recently, Madame Bovary, C'est Moir! The Great Characters of Literature and Where They Came From. He also is author of Now All We Need is a Title, and Pushcart's Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Currently, he is working on The Reader's Guide to Modern American Writing Since 1945, to be published by Pantheon. Bernard was a member of the faculty for the Society's annual literary festival, Words & Music, for th first time in 2003. He will be participating as a faculty member again at the 2004 writers' conference.

Novella:

Janette Turner Hospital, who grew up on the coast of Queensland, Australia, is one of that vast continent's very best literary exports. Ms. Hospital holds the Dickey Chair as a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of South Carolina. Her novels and short stories, which have been published in 13 languages, include the novel Oyster, which was a finalist for both of Australia's major literary prizes: The Miles Franklin Prize and the National Book Award. Her new short story collection, North of Nowhere, South of Loss, and her latest novel, Due Preparations for the Plague, were published recently to international critical acclaim. Ms. Hospital currently is on an extended book tour in her native Australia, where she learned that she is short-listed with Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee for Australia's most coveted prize. Prior to leaving for Downunder, she completed a successful book tour in the British Isles. Ms. Hospital has been a member of the faculty for Words & Music, twice and will be participating as a faculty member again at the 2004 writers' conference in addition to judging the novella competition.


Novel in Progress:

Elinor Lipman, is the author of eight books: the novels The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, The Dearly Departed, The Ladies' Man, The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, The Way Men Act, Then She Found Me, and a collection of stories, Into Love and Out Again. She has taught writing at Simmons, Smith and Hampshire colleges, and at the Bennington Summer Writers' Workshop. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Globe Magazine, Gourmet, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times' "Writers on Writing" series. Of her work The Boston Globe has said, "Lipman has been referred to as 'the master of the art of screwball comedy,' but 'screwball' doesn't do justice to her fiction, which renders serious subjects through a lens of humor and hope." Book Magazine, which named The Pursuit of Alice Thrift as one of the top five books of 2003, wrote, "Like Jane Austen, the past master of the genre, Lipman isn't only out for laughs. She serves up social satire, too, that's all the more trenchant for being deftly drawn." Raised in Lowell, MA, she lives in Northampton, MA, with her husband, Robert Austin. She received the New England Booksellers' 2001 fiction award for a body of work. Ms. Lipman will participate as a member of the faculty of Words & Music, 2004, as well as judging the novel-in-progress competition.

Short Story:

Stuart Dybek, who is described in a starred review by Kirkus as the Nelson Algren of contemporary literature. Dybek is among the hottest names in fiction today with a sense of humor to rival that of the most intelligent stand-up comics or talk show hosts and an engaging way of presenting the harsh reality of 21st century urban America in his stories. Dybek is author of a new novel, presented in the form of connected stories, I sailed With Magellan. Publisher's Weekly has this to say about his new book: A powerful, cumulative portrait . . . These beautifully written stories teem with aching recollections. They are lyrical odes to wasted lives, youthful desires, vanishing innocence and the transformative power of memory. Dybek received high acclaim for his first book, The Coast of Chicago, an edgy collection of stories about his hometown, Chicago, its sharply divided culture, brilliantly mixing highly sophisticated grit lit with wry humor, frequently of the noir variety. Dybek also is the author of the short story collection, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, as well as a volume of poetry, Brass Knuckles. His writing has been frequently anthologized and appears regularly in periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Poetry, The Paris Review, and Tri-Quarterly. Among the many honors he has received for his work are a PEN/Bernard Malamud Prize, a Whiting Writers' Award, several O. Henry Prizes, and a Pushcart Prize. A professor of English at Western Michigan University, he lives in Kalamazoo, MI. Streets in Their Own Ink, a collection of poems, will be published by FSG in 2004. Dybek will participate as a member of the Words & Music faculty in 2004.

 

Essay:

Michael Dirda, literary critic for The Washington Post Book World and author of the Post's regular online column, Dirda on Books, was graduated from Oberlin College cum laude subsequently won a Fulbright Fellowship to study in France, where he completed advanced studies at the Universite d'Aix-en-Provence. He completed his MA and Ph.D in comparative literature at Cornell University. In 1993 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism and the same year was selected by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 25 smartest people in Washington and has received numerous other awards and honors. He has chaired the Pulitzer Prize jury for biography and has been a board member of The National Book Critics Circle. He was annual contributor of The Year in American Literature to Collier's Encyclopedia Yearbook from 1982-1998 and The Year in American Poetry for The World Book Encyclopedia Yearbook from 1990 through 1998. His own books include Caring for your Books, A Celebration of Writing, Looking for a Good Time: Reading, Libraries and the World of Books, and his memoir issued last year, An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland. His new book, Bound to Please: Why Reading Flaubert is Fund and Other Essays on Great Books and Their Writers will be released by Norton this year. In his capacity as a critic he appears regularly on national television and the national lecture circuit and he has taught at University of Central Florida, American University, George Mason University, and the University of Maryland. In addition to his articles for the Post, Dirda regularly writes reviews, articles, essays, and profiles for The Atlantic Monthly, The Times Literary Supplement, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Smithsonian Magazine, Business 2.0, The Nation, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Connoisseur, The New Leader, The Week Standard, Crisis,The Writer, The Wilson Quarterly, Inc., The American Book Collector, Brick, and other journals. Dirda, in addition to English, is fluent in French, Italian, Latin, and German and regularly writes scholarly articles for such diverse publications as Fantasy and Supernatural Fiction and The Baker Street Journal. He has been a member of the faculty for Words & Music for five years and will be returning in 2004.

Poetry:

Daniel Halpern was born in Syracuse, New York, and has lived in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, and Tangier, Morocco. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, most recently Something Shining (Knopf, 1999), Selected Poems (Knopf, 1994), and Foreign Neon (Knopf, 1991); editor of numerous anthologies, including The Art of the Tale (Penguin, 1987) and The Art of the Story (Penguin, 2000), and two food books, Halpern's Guide to the Essential Restaurants of Italy and The Good Food: Soups, Stews & Pastas. He has received numerous grants and awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the 1993 PEN Publisher Citation. For 25 years he edited the international literary magazine Antaeus, which he founded in Tangier, Morocco with Paul Bowles. He is the recipient of many grants and awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the 1993 PEN Publisher Citation. From 1975 to 1995 he taught in the graduate writing program of Columbia University, which he Chaired for many years -- and he has also taught at The New School for Social Research and the writing program at Princeton University. He is now Editorial Director of ECCO, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and lives in New York and Princeton, NJ, with his wife, the writer Jeanne Wilmot, and daughter, Lily.

Short Story by a High School Student

Tom Piazza, who won the James A. Michener Award for his first collection of short fiction, Blues and Trouble, won the Faulkner Society's gold medal for Best Novel in 2002 and the winning manuscript, My Cold War, has since been published to critical acclaim. Piazza is expert in the field of writing non-fiction, too, especially about musit and this year he won a Grammy in the Best Album Notes category. Piazza won it for his 5,000-word essay on the blues, which was the main text for the booklet for the 5-CD set Martin Scorsese Presents THE BLUES: A Musical Journey. The set came out last fall as a companion piece to the PBS series of the same name. The series was a seven-part exploration of the blues, with individual episodes directed by Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, and others. The boxed CD set with Piazza's essay contains blues performances from the early 1920s through the presents, and includes figures like Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Professor Longhair, Corey Harris, and Cassandra Wilson. The set itself also won a Grammy Award, for Best Historical Album.Tom wrote the essay last summer at Yaddo, and they featured an article about the essay up on their website. You might enjoy it, and you can find it at: http://yaddo.org/yaddo/tompiazza.shtml Tom has been a member of the faculty of Words & Music since 1997 and will return this year.

The William Faulkner -William Wisdom
Creative Writing Competition
Winners, 2003

NOVEL - What the Shadow Told Me

by Kurt Ayau & David Rachels

Judge: Julia Glass

Kurt Ayau's novel, Nana's House, won a Virginia Prize in Literature in 1988 and the Great American Novel contest of the Virginia Festival of the Book in 2003. He has published short fiction in The Villager, The Michiana Creative Arts Review, City Magazine, The Roanoke Review, and The Portland Review. He is an Associate Professor of English at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, and lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with he wife, Kathleen, and daughters, Julia and Leah.

David Rachels, an Alabama native, is editor of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet's Georgia Scenes Completed: A Scholarly Text and co-editor of The First West: Writings from the American Frontier, 1776-1860. He has published short fiction in such journals as Tamaqua and Sou'wester. His first published collaboration with Kurt Ayau recently appeared in The Portland Review. Rachels is an Associate Professor of English at Virginia Military Institute, and lives in the Shenandoah Valley with his wife, Angie, and their two sons, Aaron and Gus.

Runners-Up

First: The Beautiful Miscellaneous by Dominic Smith, Austin, TX
Second: Rook by E. A. Bagby, Chicago, IL

NOVELLA - The Goat Bridge by T.M. McNally

Judge: Susan Dodd

T.M. McNally is the author of a collection of short stories, Low Flying Aircraft, which received the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and two novels, Until Your Heart Stops, an NYT Notable Book, and most recently, Almost Home. His stories appear in such publications as Conjunctions, Double Take, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Yale Review. He teaches at Arizona State University, and lives in Scottsdale with Sally Ball and their three children.

Runners Up

First: Beauty ­ Moira Crone, New Orleans, LA
Honorable Mentions:
The Poison That Fascinates ­ Jennifer Clement, Mexico
The Intervale ­J.A. Pollard, Winslow, ME
Down at the Egyptian Room ­ Michael Pritchett, Overland Park, KS

NOVEL-IN-PROGRESS - That Social Jones by Brian Rogers

Judge: Rita Ciresi

After graduating from the University of the Pacific, Brian Rogers moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and began performing as a stand-up comedian. He later enrolled in the graduate writing program at San Francisco State University, and subsequently taught at Napa Valley College. He received the George Bennett Fellowship (writer-in-residence) at Philip Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, later returning to California and settling in the Salinas-Monterey area, where he presently lives with his wife and two small children. Admittedly, That Social Jones is highly autobiographical, and the narrative largely explores how the protagonist transforms from an overly shy kid into a stand-up comedian.

Runners-up

First: Tropical Depression, Rosary O'Neill, New Orleans, LA
Second: The Taste of Persimmons, Patricia Brieschke, Port Jefferson, NY

SHORT STORY - Incompatible With Life
by Thomas Jay Berger

Judge: C. Michael Curtis

Thomas Jay Berger, MD, is a board certified cardiac surgeon. After two years performing heart surgery as an active duty Lt. Commander in the US Navy, he started his own cardiac program in a small town in Montana. In 1998, vision problems caused him to retire from active practice. Since then, he has continued to work in medico-legal consultation and testimony. His winning story is part of a novel-in-progress, which chronicles the life of a fictional cardiac surgeon.

Runners Up

Fire by Dylan Landis, Santa Monica, CA

ESSAY - Pilgrim Soul by Debra Marquart

Judge: Bret Lott

Debra Marquart is the author of two books of poetry, Everything's a Verb and From Sweetness, and a short story collection, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories. An associate professor of English, she is the poetry editor of Flyway Literary Review and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at Iowa State University. She is currently at work on a memoir, The Horizontal Life: On Rebellion and Return, about growing up a rebellious farmer's daughter on a North Dakota wheat farm; and a novel, set in Greece, titled The Olive Harvest.

Runners-up

First: Life Sentences, Sidney J. Burris, Fayetteville, AK
Second: Paul Is Dead, and We're All Listening: Rumor and Revelation, 1969
Ned Balbo, Baltimore, MD


POEM - A Child's Evening at Oak Grove Church by Jan Presley

Judge: Rodger Kamenetz

Jan Presley teaches English at Carbondale Community High School in Southern Illinois. Her poetry has been published locally, and she recently won the Writer's Digest first place award for her poem The Moon and the Spoken Word. She owes such recognition to her mother's relentlessly hopeful submission of her daughter's poetry to national contests.

Runners-up:
Convergence, Scott Bailey, Raleigh, MS
Cantaro, M. Michael McCamley, Stillwater, OK

HIGH SCHOOL SHORT STORY - Skin by Hallie Rundle

Judge: Josh Clark

Hallie Rundle was born in New Orleans in 1985. She attends the Academy of the Sacred Heart and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where she is now a third-year student in the Creative Writing Program, Her writing has won awards from the Quarante Club of New Orleans and the Hollins College Nancy Thorpe Poetry Prize.Runners-Up:

Runners-up:

Scritch-Scratch, Rachel Cole, New Orleans, LA
Neither Burning nor Washing, Josslyn Lake, Clayton, MO
The Balconies of Camaguey, Daniel Castro, New Orleans, LA

 Other Finalists, 2003

Novel
Decoys; S. Kirk Walsh, New York, NY
How the Sun Shines on Noise; Matthew Cashion, Statesville, NC
Water for the Tin House; Julie Morin , Tuscon, AZ

Novella
Beulah Land; Krista McGrudger, New York, NY
Bloodletting; Jason Miller, Cartersville, GA
Fate's Lieutenant; Tadzio Martin Koelb, Brooklyn, NY
Puzzle of Living; Xujun Eberlein, Wayland, MA
Ridge Weather; Josh Weil, New York, NY
The Rockaway Stories; Tara Ason, Sherman Oaks, CA
The Woman in Number Five; Kevin C. Stewart, Baton Rouge, LA
Zigzag Love; Latha Viswanathan, Houston, TX

Novel-in-Progress
After Piety; Debra Leigh Scott, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Among the Wonderful; Stacy Carlson,Tarrytown, NY
The Best Skinny Woman She Could Be; Sarah Stark Doyle, Santa Fe, NM
Boy Made of Light; Ron Nyren, Berkeley, CA
Consolation; Pam Thompson, Worthington, MA
Cooking Lessons; Tena Loveland Russ, Glencoe, IL
Corpus Hermeticum; Erica Obey, New York , NY
Courting Jane; Jennifer Veser, Dunedin, FL
Dark Lady of Hollywood; Diane Haithman, Studio City, CA
Divining Rose; Kory Wells, Murfreesboro, TN
The Fireball; Joanie Chappel, Franklin, TN
Hope of Glory
It's the Slipping; Kyla Foutch, Tempe, AZ
Jackson; George Bishop, Wilmington, NC
Johnny
Jupiter; Valerie Sinzdak, Oakland, CA
The Lotus Eaters; Tatjana Soli, Tustin, CA
The Perfect Journey; George Wen, New York, NY
Push Play; Joyce Miller, Cincinnati, OH
Rollover; Ellen Greenfield, Brooklyn, NY
Strangers on Trains; Chris Buckle, Sunk Island, Near Hull, East Yorkshire, England
The Sudden Shape of Water; Lee Reilly, Chicago, IL
Tales of Black Living; Faye R. Grey, Chicago, IL
The Teahouse Fire; Ellis Avery, New York, NY
This Little Corner of Nowhere; Sharon Andrews, Jacksonville, FL
Touching the Veil; Ruth Abrams, Boca Raton, FL

Short Story
After Math; Amy Boutell, Santa Barbara, CA
Dancing; Charles Holdefer, Poitiers, France
Dress the Goose; Andrea Malin, Los Angeles, CA
Fire; Dylan Landis, Santa Monica, CA
In Love with Martha Stewart; Mickey Clement, Huntington Bay, NY
Inukshuk; Julie Mason, Ottawa, ON
Lease; Morgan McDermott, Evanston, IL
Out of the Land of Egypt; Andrea Jackson, St. Louis, MO
Please Forgive Me Again, Hector; Los Angeles, CA
Rapture; Jennifer S. Davis, Spokane, WA
Traction; Morgan McDermott, Evanston, IL

Essay
Black Dress; Anne Dimock, Afton, MA
Death of an Armadillo; Randall H. Nunn, Sherman, TX
Dying Southern; Kat Meads, Ben Lomond, CA
Filled with Pain; Linda Amato, Bellmore, NY
Fresh Air; I. Mosvald, Louisville, KY
Goggie's Tavern; Garry Wallace, Powell, WY
The Guerilla's Guide; Ellen Ann Fentress, Jackson, MS
In the Garden; Robin J. Townsley Arcus, Durham, NC
Life Sentences; Sidney J. Burris, Fayetteville, AR
Painting Cambodia for Judy; Karen J. Coates, West Bend, WI
Paul is Dead, and We're All Listening: Rumor and Revelation, 1969;
Ned Balbo; Baltimore, MD
Plague History and Plague Theology; Roberta Katechofsky, Marblehead, MA
Playing by the Rules; Alan Huard, New Orleans, LA
Rant; William J. Wood, Clackamas, OR
The Rhythm of Strife; Katie Barnes, Santa Monica, CA
Sinfully Agitated Blond; Dick Michener, Waynesville, NC
Skeletons of Stories; Katy Read, Minneapolis, MN
Venice; Robin J. Townsley Arcus, Durham, NC
What Men Don't Know About Our Own Rooms; Chiara Barzini

Poetry
2001; Cindy Lou Levee, Baton Rouge, LA
Afoot Again; Elaine Dallman, San Francisco, CA
Angling; I. Mosvold, Louisville, KY
A Beautiful Disaster; Katie Bowler, Harahan, LA
Benny's Bar; Sidra Ellisor, New Orleans, LA
Burnt Black; I. Mosvold, Louisville, KY
The Church Burner; Bob Storm, Murray, KY
CNN Reports Ground Forces Extensive Near Baghdad; Cindy Lou Levee,
Baton Rouge, LA
Cusp; Amy Marie Baird, Camden, OH
Fluoresce; I. Mosvold, Louisville, KY
Fore; Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Garden Lips; James Arturo Pounds, Austin, TX
Girl of Tankas; Lynn Veach Sadler, Sanford, NC
Guitar Solo; Jan Dawkins, Oceanside, CA
Haiku Lite; Walker Culpepper, New Orleans, LA
Hart Island; Ned Balbo, Baltimore, MD
Late Sentence; Gail Waldstein, Denver, CO
Marie's Lascivious Dreaming Knees; Mary Barres Riggs, Oxford, MS
The Mess; Ian Siegel, Takoma Park, MD
My Oscar; Joe Hill, Exeter, NH
No Control; Nina Louton, Hot Springs, AR
Octogenarian Tea; Mark T. Kelly, London, UK
One Too Many; Dawn L. Bird, Wrentham, MA
Photographing the Alices; Susan Terris, San Francisco, CA
Stick Pilot; Antoinette Constable, Oakland, CA
This is the City; Kiel Hamm, Long Beach, CA
Torch Dance; Amy Ruth Trussell, Santa Rosa, CA
Vision; Cole R. DeLaune; Jackson, TN
When; I. Mosvold, Louisville, KY

Short Story By A High School Student

Bella: A Burial; Steven Miller, New Orleans, LA
Bottleneck; Rebekah Olinde, New Orleans, LA
Correspondence; Gail McWilliams, New Orleans, LA
Cuidad Jardin; Colin Gilbert, New Orleans, LA
Monkey; Kezia Kamenetz, New Orleans, LA
The Divine Normalcy of Finster MacKnucklebee; Ricky Aucoin, Watson, LA
The Planets Are Aligned; Kate Mooney, New Orleans, LA
Sarah's War; Christa Blackmon, Miami, FL
September; Charmika Stewart
Straw; Cole R. DeLaune, Jackson, TN



Competition Guidelines

For revised guidelines click here:

Guidelines

If you have any problems linking with guidelines or entry form, e-mail us and we will send them.

Note: each entry in the competition must be accompanied by our entry form. To obtain one from this web site go to the end of this page and click on Official Entry Form. Or, you may send us an SASE with 74 cents postage and we will send you hard copies of the guidelines and entry form. For information on the winners for 2004, scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on: Additional Information.

 

To Reach us, sent an e-mail to:

Faulkhouse@AOL.com or WordsandMusicNO@AOL.com

Guidelines

For revised guidelines for 2003 click here: Guidelines

For Information About Winners, Writers Conference, Changes in Guidelines, and Other Important Up-dates, check our web site regularly.
www.wordsandmusic.org.

 This program is sponsored by grants from the Arts Council of New Orleans and the City of New Orleans; the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.
the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation;

Underwriting Opportunities

Priority For The Future
Principal goal for the future is to secure an overall sponsor for the competition for a three-year commitment period. This would allow the Society to hire one full-time professional to administer the competition year round. Now, temporary help is utilized during the crunch months, when manuscripts are being received and processed. The Society also is requesting three-year commitments or perpetual funding for cash prize donors now. Such donors receive a package of benefits, including the right to name prizes.

Sponsorship Opportunities

The Society hopes prizes will be given in honor of Eudora Welty, Ernest Gaines, Richard Ford, Robert Olen Butler, for instance, all masters of the art of the written word. The donor may name the prize, e.g., the Zemurray Prize in honor of Shirley Ann Grau, The Bank One Prize in honor of Ernest Gaines, the Friends of the Library Prize in honor of Eudora Welty, The Freeman Prize in honor of Robert Olen Butler, the Ford Foundation Prize in honor of Richard Ford.