The District 2 Contest Manager, Cheryl Heidi, is proud to announce winners of the 2015 Kansas Authors Club writing contest.

PROSE CATEGORIES

First Chapter of a Novel

Judge: Lori Baker Martin

Lori Baker Martin has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa and Pittsburg State University. Currently, she lives and works in Southeast Kansas where she is teaching English at Independence Community College. She’s had both poetry and fiction published in magazines which include Prick of the Spindle, The MacGuffin, The Little Balkans Review, Room Magazine, Midwest Quarterly, The Knicknackery, Grass Limb, and in a Kansas Notable Book poetry collection To the Stars Through Difficulties. She’s been awarded for her work in The Cincinnati Review and Kansas Voices. Martin is a graduate of The Iowa Writer’s Workshop where she was named a Truman Capote Fellow and received the Clark Fischer Ansley Award for Excellence in Fiction.

First Place: Norm Ledgin

Second Place: Ann Fell

Third Place: Frank Taff

Honorable Mention: Sally Jadlow

Short Fiction, Any Genre

Judge: Tom Meek

Tom Meek is a writer living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in The Boston Phoenix, Paste Magazine, The Rumpus, Thieves Jargon, Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.

First Place: Annabelle Corrick

Second Place: Sylvia Forbes

Third Place: Cathy Callen

Honorable Mention: Dennis Smirl

Humor

Judge: Bill Hagman

Bill Hagman now lives in South Dakota, although he has spent most of his life in SW Kansas. He worked for a small newspaper but is now working on novel, titled Kendral, which is about a boy who gains more than wealth from his great uncle’s estate. He actively creates digital photography collage images and writes poetry (“Jargon Jaunting” series) for his blogblog . He has been published in several anthologies including To the Stars Through Difficulties, A Kansas Renga in 150 Voices.

First Place: Vicki Julian

Second Place: Rick McNary

Third Place: Rick McNary

Honorable Mention: Ronda Miller

Memoir or Inspiration (Non-fiction)

Judge: Kelly Woods

Kelly Woods received a degree in Creative Writing with a minor in Linguistics from the University of Kansas. Her writing is concentrated in the area of poetry, non-fiction, and short fiction. She was staff member to Literary Journal Siren and wrote articles for the World Company in connection with Dr. Wes Crewshaw.

First Place: Ronda Miller

Second Place: Sylvia Forbes

Third Place: Sean Santoro

Non-fiction Article

Judge: Roy Wenzl

Roy Wenzl is an award winning reporter and author for the Wichita Eagle. He is the primary author of the Eagle’s book on the BTK serial killer–Bind, Torture, Kill, the Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door and other publications. Roy has won several national journalism awards and was on the Kansas City Star and Times news team that won a 1982 Pullizer Prize for coverage of the Hyatt Hotel sky walk collapse. He is a native Kansan, a farmer’s son, a graduate fom K State.

First Place: Sylvia Forbes

Second Place: Sylvia Forbes

Third Place: Maureen Carroll

POETRY CATEGORIES

Poetry, Classic Forms

Judge: Bill Hagman

(see above)

First Place: Sylvia Forbes

Second Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Third Place: Ronda Miller

Honorable Mention: Roy Beckemeyer

Poetry, Free Verse

Judge: Allison Berry

Allison Berry received her MFA at Queens University of Charlotte and is a Lecturer for the Women’s Studies Program at Pittsburg State University and the Department of English and Philosophy at Missouri Southern State University. Her poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in such journals as The Minnesota Review, Sinister Wisdom, and New Verse News. She lives in Joplin, Missouri, with her two children.

First Place: Lisa Moritz

Second Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Third Place: Tyler Sheldon

Honorable Mention: Iris Wilkinson

Poetry, Narrative Verse

Judge: Kelly Woods

(see above)

First Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Second Place: Kelly Johnson

Third Place: Ronda Miller

Honorable Mention: Ronda Miller

Honorable Mention: Roy Beckemeyer

Japanese Forms

Judge: Bill Hagman

(see above)

First Place: Diane Palka

Second Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Third Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Honorable Mention: Diane Palka

Song Lyrics

Judge: Steve Dahlberg

Steve Dahlberg, is a musician and vocalist for Hyperopia. He has composed and mocked up a 3 movement modern classical symphony, the second movement of which was featured at a Kansas composers showcase at the Lawrence Arts Center a few years ago.

First Place: Roy Beckemeyer

Second Place: Maryann Barry

Third Place: Sean Santoro