Winning Entries Showcase Talented High School and College Writers
Bend, Ore. September 14, 2009. The judges have spoken
and the winning entries for The Nature of Words 2009 Rising Star Creative
Writing Competition
have been chosen. This year’s call for entries brought a wealth of submissions
from high school- and college-age
writers throughout the Northwest. The quality of submissions continues to amaze
and delight. Poetry judge Charles Goodrich, commenting
on a poem he awarded first place, stated, “The poem reveals that, at the level of
meaningful chance occurrences, each person’s experience is absolutely unique.
Not necessarily heroic or full of dramatic events, but interesting in its particulars. That’s a revelation to live by. There’s
a lot of music in here, too.”
Prizes were awarded in the following categories:
Literary Nonfiction
Age 15 to 18 Category: No
winner or honorable mention selected.
Age 19 to 25 Category: Winner:
Megan Risley, “Moving,” Seattle,
Washington
Honorable Mention: Michael Magidman, “That’s Laughable,” Seattle, Washington
Fiction
Age 15 to 18 Category: Winner:
Quinn Charles Amacher, “Pigman,” Philomath, Oregon
Honorable Mentions: Tara Parmele, “The Shared Ribbon,” Bend, Oregon; Casey
Sullivan, “Toujours Avoir L’espoir,”Bend,
Oregon
Age 19 to 25 Category: Winner:
Jamie Mueller, “Audacity” La Grande,
Oregon
Honorable Mention: Vicki Huggins, “Crime and Punishment for Very
Juvenile Delinquents,” SeaTac, Washington;
Kendra Purkerson, “Range of Vision,” Prineville,
Oregon
Poetry
Age 15 to 18 Category: Winner:
Sarah C. Sargent, “Roots,” Bend,
Oregon
Honorable Mentions: David Beame, “Downer Cow,” Seattle, Washington
Xander Fehsenfeld, “Days Spent Tending,” Bainbridge Island, Washington
Age 19 to 25 Category: Winner:
Charles “Maxx” Miller, “We Walk,” Bend,
Oregon
Honorable Mention: Charles “Maxx” Miller, “What up Sun?” Bend, Oregon
Nature Essay (sponsored by Deschutes Land
Trust)
Age 15-18 Category: Winner:
Jeremy Ryan Brown, “Somber Beauty,” Sublimity,
Oregon
Honorable Mention: Daniel Friesen, “Details,” Portland, Oregon
Age 19-25 Category: Winner:
Michele DeSilva, “The Ivy out of Place Retains its Shape,” Bend,
Oregon; Honorable Mention: Kai Hoffman-Krull, “What
Stands Still,” Spokane, Washington
Winners will be honored at a special ceremony, reading and reception
on Wednesday, November 4th in the Central Oregon Community
College Robert L. Barber Library at the opening event for the fifth annual The
Nature of Words literary festival in Bend,
Oregon. Each first place winner
will receive a cash award, a scholarship to a guest-author led workshop at The
Nature of Words, a trophy, publication of their winning entry in an anthology, and
a certificate.
About the Judges
Judging was performed by a panel of three accomplished
Northwest writers. Fiction judge Suzanne
Burns’ debut short story collection, Misfits
and Other Heroes, was published by Dzanc Books in June. One story in the
collection won first place in the 2007 Writer's Digest Genre Fiction Award,
while another placed second in 2003. She is currently working on a new novel
and a new poetry collection. Poetry judge Charles
Goodrich is the author of a volume of poems, Insects of South Corvallis (Cloudbank Books, 2003), and a
collection of essays about nature, parenting, and building his own house, The Practice of Home
(Lyons Press, 2004) and he was lead editor for In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens (OSU
Press, 2008). His essays and poetry have appeared in many magazines including Orion, The Sun, Open Spaces, Willow Springs,
Zyzzyva, and Best Essays Northwest,
and a number of his poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on the National
Public Radio program, "The Writer's Almanac." Goodrich will present
poetry workshops at The Nature of Words’ upcoming
November literary festival. Literary non-fiction judge Ellen Santasiero is a freelance writer and an adjunct faculty
member in English at Oregon State University-Cascades. Her essays and
interviews have appeared in The Sun,
Northwest Review, Marlboro Review and High
Desert Journal and Oregon Humanities.
Her essay, “Second Thoughts,” was included in Going Green, an anthology released from
the University of
Oklahoma
Press in spring 2009. Brad Chalfant is Executive Director of the Deschutes Land Trust and
formerly an attorney and public land manager. Brad has been Executive Director
for the Land Trust since 1997. Prior to that, Brad was a co-founder and first
Board President for the Land Trust and served as the County Lands Manager for
Deschutes County.
About Our Sponsors
The Nature of Words is
made possible thanks to the generous support of Central Oregon Community
College, Oregon State
University-Cascades Campus, The Old
Mill District, Starview Foundation in support of the Deschutes Land Trust,
Writing Ranch, and an anonymous donor. Additional support is provided by The Bend Bulletin, Caldera, Cascades East and Cascade
Publications, Central Oregon Community
College’s Office of Student Life, Diversity Committee
and Native American Program, Julia Kennedy Cochran, Clear 101.7 FM, Deschutes
Brewery, Devore’s Good Food, Emily Bonavia, Margaret Heater, Mike & Sue
Hollern, The Kinsman Foundation,
KOHD News, The Maybelle Clark
MacDonald Foundation, Craig & Linda Moore, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Bend, Ray Lansing & Angelina Montoya, Margaret
Nebenzahl, Oregon Arts Commission,
Phoenix Inn Suites, Karen
Poulsen/Bella Moda, Jim & Becky Powell, Robberson Ford, Margie Robberson, Roundhouse
Foundation, Samuel S. Johnson Foundation, Sally Russell, S. Park Shaw Fund,
Shelk Fund of the Oregon Community
Foundation, William Smith Properties, The Source Weekly, Sun Forest
Construction, Umpqua Bank and Dan Wieden.
For more information about The Nature of Words, visit www.thenatureofwords.org, email info@thenatureofwords.org or call 541.330.4381
or 541.480.3933.
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