Faulkner writing competition awards nearly $6,000 in prizes

The William Faulkner Literary Competition committee awarded nearly $6,000 in prize money to local and international winners in a virtual program, Friday September 25. It was the 123^rd anniversary of the writer’s birth.

The awards are typically given during a luncheon that includes the presentation and a featured speaker.

This year’s speaker, Robert Hitt Neil, who is a writer, humorist and storyteller, presented his part of the program via internet as well.

His work includes books, video, syndicated weekly newspaper columns and magazine articles. He has won 39 awards for writing and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the Ernie Pyle Award, the Ernest Hemingway Award, Conservation Communicator of the Year, Southern Gentlemen of the Year and Governor’s Artist of the Year.

Awards are given in the categories of short story, one-act play, poetry, novel and student short story.

Blind judging of entries is done by persons who do not live here and who do not have the names of authors.

In the main adult categories the prizes are $200 for third place, $300 for second place and $600 for first place. There is only one novel winner and that person receives $2,000. Youth winners receive certificates and the student category was only open to Mississippi students.

Winners include:

Short Story:

First place – Piano Solo by Rhiannon Lewis of Abergavenny, Wales

Second place – The Woman Child by Khanh Ha of Silver Springs, Md.

Third place – The Other Woman by Tristan Marajh of Toronto, Canada

One-Act Play:

First place – A Train to Laugh by Mitchell P. Ganem of Wolfeboro, N. H.

Second place – A Shared View by Mary Caroline Rogers of Tucson, Ariz.

Third place – Nothing New Under the Sun by John Doble of New York, N.Y.

Honorable mention – Kissing Jennifer in the Moonlight by Peter Hardy of Atlanta, Ga.

Honorably mention – Ducks on a Junebug by Dennis Moore of Bothell, Wash.

Poetry:

First place – More Distinct than Olympus by George Drew of Poestenkill, N.Y.

Second place – Blur by Katherine Vandermel of Closter, N.J.

Third place – Reminiscence by Kate Stukenborg, of Carrboro, N. C.

Honorable mention – In My Dreams, the Heedless Cattle by Rachel K. Embry of Iuka

Honorable mention – Motherland, by Dot Courson of Pontotoc

Novel:

First place – Where is the Glory: The Cader Daniel Mitchell Story by Neil Mitchell of Provo, Utah

Honorable mention – Crossing the Same Sea by Helen Montague Foster of Richmond, Va.

Student Short Story:

First place – Of the Wolf’s Party by Madeline Tressie Bonds of Tupelo

Second place – Layers of Uncertainty by Callie Matthews of Meridian

Third place – Sunday Mornings by Stephyne Weatherby of Byram

New Albany Elementary teacher Nina Beth Capaning held a workshop with fourth and fifth grade students and four were chosen to read their poems during the program Friday. Two used alliteration style and two used diamante style poems.

They are:

Sophia Lopez, Alliteration – Eudora Welty, Fifth Grade

Emma Rodgers, Alliteration – Carolyn Haines

Kate Ladner, diamante poem – My Family

Chloe Leath, diamante poem – My Happy Place

The prizes are made possible by contributions by those including Eric Saul, The New Century Book Club, Friends of the Union County Library, Junta Book Club, The Pilot Club and Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Iota.

Thanks to support from the City of New Albany, the competition has its own website, www.williamfaulknerliterarycompetition.com.

The awards program can be viewed on the Union County Heritage Museum Facebook page and Neill’s part of the program is available for viewing on youtube at https://youtu.be/4M6uQtPaTBk.