Creative Writing students nominated for national Intro Awards

One of Georgia College and State University’s Intro Award winners, Heather Patterson, will read her own work at The Associated Writing Programs National Intro Awards.

This event will take place on Monday, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium.

Dr. Martin Lammon, professor of English and one of the judges for these awards, described the agenda for the function.

“Students whose works have been nominated for national Intro Awards, as well as students receiving ‘honorable mention’ citations, will also read from their creative works,” Lammon said.

The Creative Writing Program can nominate three poems, one short
story and one creative nonfiction essay for the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) national Intro Awards.

“Usually we nominate in all categories, and usually we nominate works by five different students, although it’s possible that a student’s work could be selected more than once for nomination,” Lammon said. “Locally, we have also recognized works for honorable mention and ask those students to read.”

The Intro Awards are open to students who are enrolled in writing programs that are part of the Associated Writing Programs (AWP). There are over 320 programs from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. that belong to AWP. Students at GC&SU enrolled in at least one creative writing class are eligible to submit work for consideration.

“The judges locally are the creative writing faculty in GC&SU’s Creative Writing Program, who nominate works to AWP. Nationally, the judges are distinguished writers in each category: fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction,” Lammon said. “Winners of this contest receive a $50 cash honorarium and are published in one of the country’s leading professional literary journals: ‘Hayden’s Ferry Review,’ ‘The Bellingham Review,’ ‘Mid-American Review,’ ‘Puerto del Sol,’ ‘Quarterly West,’ ‘Cimmaron Review,’ ‘Five Points,’ ‘The Journal,’ and ‘Shenandoah.’”

Last year, the judges picked 16 poems, eight short stories, and eight creative nonfiction essays from hundreds of nominations submitted from colleges and universities all over the country.

“Winning works must be of the highest literary quality, worthy of
professional publication,” Lammon said.

According to Lammon, The Intro Journals Project is a literary competition sponsored by the Associated Writing Programs for the discovery and publication of the best new works by students currently enrolled in the programs of AWP. Graduates and undergraduates are eligible.

“Just being nominated or receiving an honorable mention citation is an honor, and the Creative Writing Program wanted to celebrate the outstanding work of our best student writers,” Lammon said.

According to Lammon, GC&SU became a member of AWP in 1997-1998. GC&SU has been nominating student works since the spring of 1999. GC&SU’s Creative Writing Program students won national awards in two of their first three years.

“Our students are already publishing their works in professional literary journals, and soon I believe we’ll see one of our student’s first books get published,” Lammon said. “I couldn’t think of a better way to honor the legacy of our famous alumna, the writer Flannery O’Connor.”

According to Lammon, in 1999 and 2000, two students from Georgia College and State University were chosen as winners for National Intro Awards. In 1999, Denzil R. Pugh won an award in poetry, and his poem was published in ‘The Mid-American Review.’ In 2000, Heather Patterson won an award in fiction, and her work, “Colonizing June,” was published in ‘The Cimmaron Review.’

“I think there are some potential national Intro Award winners in the works submitted this year, too,” Lammon said.

The National Intro Awards Ceremony is free and open to the public.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 30 2001. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry