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Winners of the 2009 Writers Studio Literary Contest

Congratulations to the First Place winners in our fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry contests:

Fiction First Place--Rowena Alegria for "The Last Shot"

Bio: Rowena Alegría is a journalist and fiction writer based in Denver. She is a member of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop and is at work on two novels and a collection of short stories. She is also married with four children.

Judge's remarks: This story moves beyond the immediate drama of a husband's suicide, and examines not only the lives left behind, but more importantly the lives that preceded it. The violent act itself is central to the story, but it's not the climax; it's the core of the onion, but it's the layers upon layers peeling back that give the story emotional weight. Finely wrought, and honestly moving.

--Teague Bohlen, Fiction Judge

Nonfiction First Place--Margie Warsavage for "Pigeon Toes"

Bio: When I became serious about writing, I studied creative writing at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and The Taos Institute of Art in New Mexico. I have published both fiction and nonfiction. My last sale was to Country Living magazine. My short story, "The Prize," was published in The South Dakota Review, where it won Honorable Mention for the Milton Glick Award for Fiction. My short stories and essays have appeared in local and regional magazines and newspapers.

Recently, I moved to the flatlands, where I have just completed a memoir of my western family, titled: Wearing the Red Bandanna. It opens with the true story of my cowboy grandfather trailing some of the first Texas longhorns to Montana, and continues with stories of his seven sons. The theme of family seems to run through all my work.

Judge's remarks: My winner is Pigeon Toes, an economical, almost slim, but extremely affectionate memoir of a father and young daughter relationship, observed with great insight and subtlety by a narrator who, in the act of this telling, embodies the kind, generous, and sharp-eyed observations and actions that her father so carefully tried to help her devlop. In other words, in looking back with an appreciative eye, this author proves the truth of novelist Tim O'Brien's contention that "Stories connect the past to the future." The voice throughout is intimate and low-key, and the emotion builds, in an unusual and distinctive way, mostly through implication. This is beautifully done essay.

--John Calderazzo, Nonfiction Judge

Poetry First Place Tie--Ginny Hoyle for "Leaning Into Silence"

Bio: Ginny Hoyle's poems have appeared in Open Windows III from Ghost Road Press, Pilgrimage, and MARGIE (she was a finalist in the Strong Medicine contest), all released in 2008, and, earlier, in Wazee. Her manuscript, House of Rivers, House of Clay was interpreted by artist Judy Anderson in an installation at Denver's Museum of Outdoor Arts in 2007. She is a member of Lighthouse Writers Workshop and Poets Beyond Reason.

Judge's Remarks: Using an empty cup as metaphor, "Leaning into Silence" brilliantly scrolls through time, and, while examining different temporal aspects of the same persona, realizes the futility of bold plans, but continues to find possibility in their past.

--Mark Irwin, Poetry Judge

Poetry First Place Tie--Lynn Wagner for "Ninety Eight Degrees"

Bio: Lynn Wagner has published poems in Shenandoah, subtropics, 5AM and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships to the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts by the Vira I. Heinz Foundation. Lynn received an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was awarded the Academy of American Poets prize. A newcomer to Colorado, she works as a research assistant at University of Colorao Denver Health Science Center. Lynn maintains a web presence at http://lynnwagner.pbwiki.com/

Judge's Remarks: Employing a summer heat wave as a metaphor , "Ninety-eight Degrees" passionately explores the theme of languished love amidst a vegetal & technological world that fails us all at one time or another.

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The winners won $250 (the poets who tied for 1st place split the award), and publication in next year's Progenitor, ACCs literary magazine. They were our distinguished guests at the Writers Studio April Literary Festival where they read their work to a wonderfully appreciative crowd.

2nd place winners were also our distinguished guests at the festival and received vouchers for Enrichment Program courses (worth $200) from our friends at University College at University of Denver. Many thanks to their generous support of Writers Studio.

Congratulations to all our runner ups and finalists.

Fiction Runner Up:

Ryan Brown, "Where We Are Going"

The tone of this story is spot-on; the isolation here, the woundedness, is stark and startling. The family history in this story of epiphany is nicely woven into the fabric of this moment, as is the sense of loss and powerlessness. The story starts by telling us "Don't look," but like the narrator, we can't help but look anyway.

--Teague Bohlen, Fiction Judge

Nonfiction Runner Up:

Charles Coleman, "Love in the Time of Fruit Flies"

My runner-up pick is Love in the Time of Fruit Flies. Original, extremely well-written, with very telling extended scenes that read like parts of a published book, this is a painfully honest and sometimes bitterly funny account of the death of infatuation. I commend the author for his overall command of narrative and dramatic tension, his sharp eye for the telling detail, and the strength of his cultural observations in this strong memoir.

--John Calderazzo, Nonfiction Judge

Poetry Runner Up:

Lynn Wagner, "Two Hundred Cubic Feet and Fragiles"

For second place, I have selected "Two Hundred Cubic Feet and Fragiles," a poem that adroitly captures the disjunctive sense of moving from one residence to another in fresh and compelling language: "By Sunday the windows were as pellucid / as a novitiate's soul."

--Mark Irwin, Poetry Judge

Thank you all for the chance to read your poems.

Fiction Finalists:

Poetia Curlee, "Born in Sin"
Kathy Conde, "Gravity"

Nonfiction Finalists:

Stephanie Powell, "So I Married A Comic Book Collector"
Denise DesMoineaux, " A Strong Profile"
Ron Lloyd "Coyote and Cottonwood"

Poetry Finalists:

Bobbie Hobbs, "Drought"
Rosemary Wahtola Trommer, "Or Not"
Grant Osborn, "The Last Tree in Oklahoma"
Alice Dugan Goble, " A Gold Star in Heaven" and "Crazy Girls"
Grant Osborne, "Fledgling"
Janet LeJeune, "Dancing at O'Neill's"

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