Congratulations to the winners of the Writers Artists Collaborative Memoir Contest!
1. We Saw the Sea
by Katharine Weber
Cradled in her father’s arms, a young girl is carried into the ocean while her mother stands on shore and captures the moment with her camera. Between what the child can see on the shore where her mother is grounded, and between the accompanying terror of drowning while her father drags her deeper into a deluge of ocean waves, Weber weaves a tone poem with rhythm and alliteration that rocks us into a child’s linear, free associative word play, and an adult’s recognition of reality.
2. Learning to Lie
by Margaret Rumford
All spiffed up in a starched blouse, tunic, and polished shoes, another young girl takes readers on her journey to disillusionment in a severe convent school system in New Zealand. Margaret Rumford’s clear, declarative writing style sets the stage with acuity, letting the reader follow the characters without too much fanfare or narrative comment. This entry compared to the former tone poem demonstrates for writers, readers, and listeners the vast range of voices and styles that comprise good writing.
3. Tie
Loving Lydia
by Marcelle M. Soviero
The exuberance of the author’s older sister, Lydia, as depicted in the opening paragraphs of this piece masterfully shows Lydia’s boundless joy. But there is foreshadowing of the darkness to come as Lydia’s irrepressible personality begins its descent into shadowy corners. The resolution of this memoir lifts us high above the heartache and pain when it flips back to bittersweet kindness and the fey, marvelous sister whose reality the author could not change.
3. Tied entry Crosswords
by Leslie Chess Feller
Until her scholarly, brilliant father is well into his twilight years and failing to thrive, a dutiful but distanced daughter avoids taking up the crossword puzzles, which her father can complete in ink in less than an hour. In this memoir entry, listen for Ms. Feller’s written precision and her perfect timing within the dialogues that are her tools for creating tension. Listen to how she masters the down and across word choice, and at the same time receives an extraordinary gift.
Writers of Promise Award
True Struggle, by Kayce Gillespie
Exile, by Zachary Wheat
Honored Writers
Connecticut Sopranos, by Liz Beeby
The Prom Dress and the Kugel, by Carol Boas
Tending Beauty, by Linda Clearwater
Pimp My Kitchen, by Ivy Eisenberg
On the Road Again, by Gayle Gleckler
Christmas 1944, by Sumner Glimcher
The Princess, by Susie Bedsow Horgan
Affirmative Action, by Elise Meyer
Kerplunkle: A Musical Memoir of My Greatest Worst Achievement, by Chad Rabinovitz
The Lobsters, by Christine Shaffer
The American Cocktail, by Ruth Sutcliffe-Heagney
The American Son, by Alan Swerdlowe
Learner’s Permit, by Linda Urbach Howard
Vocational Training, by Cathy Von Berkem
Holmes Street, Priscilla Whitley
Away, by Teresa Yokoi