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You are here: Home / Archives for Valerie Lake

2014 Writing Contest Winners Announced

November 3, 2014 By Jan

C. Lill Ahrens, contest coordinator for the 2014 Oregon Writers Colony writing contests, has announced contest winners.

Nonfiction

1st place

Ryan Chin, Portland, Oregon, “The Hope He Had”

Nonfiction final judge Jen Weaver-Neist says about the story:

“From the very first page, “The Hope He Had” offers an inviting cargo of goods: mystery, rich rivers of description, and the author’s natural curiosity that eventually journeys into the American experience. The first-person observations are welcome threads from the fabric of the author’s everyday life, with his two young sons and Big Head the family dog playing complementary roles in his discoveries. Readers share in his reflections too, sifting through perspective and detail to arrive comfortably at the same conclusion: that this is a story about the genealogy of hope, our common ancestry — the tree that never dies.

2nd place

Rachael Pruitt, Eugene, Oregon, “Being Seen – 1972”

3rd place

Michael Coolen, Corvallis, Oregon, “What Is That Thing”

First Honorable Mention

Karen Keitz, Tillamook, Oregon, “Yellow”

Other Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by author)

Stacy Carleton, Portland, Oregon, “Making Room in an Occupied Heart”

Valerie Lake, Corvallis, Oregon, “Night of Lions”

Gail McNally, Beaverton, Oregon, “Fred’s Fall”

“Entries of Note” (alphabetical by author)

Art Edwards, Portland, Oregon, “The Bastard Who Cut My Hair”

Robert Freedman, Portland, Oregon, “Busted”

Donelle Knudsen, Richland, Washington, “Desert Rose or a Blooming Miracle”

Fiction

1st place

Ann Littlewood, Portland, Oregon, “The Owl on the Road to Medford” (Read an excerpt)

Fiction final judge Stevan Allred says about the story:

The winning story gives us a young couple with two problems to solve. One is immediate—what to do about a live bird they’ve come across on the road–and one is existential—will their luck change if they move to Medford? It gives us a sardonic narrator who runs a wildlife rehab center, someone who’s seen it all, and doesn’t think much of the human race. It gives us the sophisticated structure of a peripheral narrator—the story is told by the sardonic narrator, but it’s about the couple. The author’s prose is crisp and confident. The characters are well-drawn and convincing, the setting a little exotic, and the story itself has something to say about the power of a little routine kindness to change the course of events. There’s no real miracle at its core, only the daily miracle of rising above our own cynicism to find a moment of redemption in our daily lives. But that is the human condition, and this story, “The Owl on the Road to Medford,” evokes this truth without any undue sentimentality, and for all of these qualities, I say ‘Huzzah’ to this author. Well done!

2nd place

Donna Farley, Surrey, British Columbia, “The Witnesses”

3rd place

Harry Demarest, Corvallis, Oregon, “One Big Coffin”

First Honorable Mention

Lois Rosen, Salem, Oregon, “The Jewish Colleen”

Other Honorable Mentions (alphabetical by author)

Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview, Oregon, “Spin Cycle”

Patsy Lally, Lake Oswego, Oregon, “The Day I Met My Mother”

Chet Skibinski, Lake Oswego, Oregon, “An Old Man With a Beard”

“Entries of Note” (alphabetical by author)

Gail Bartley, Bend, Oregon, “Mourning Becomes Her”

Harry Demarest, Corvallis, Oregon, “House in the Woods”

Jean Peterson, Nehalem, Oregon, “Dousing Dolly”

Beth Navarro, Corvallis, Oregon, “Road Trip”

Norma Seely, Manzanita, Oregon, “The Appraiser”

Filed Under: OWC News Tagged With: Ann Littlewood, Beth Navarro, C. Lill Ahrens, Chet Skibinski, Contests, Donelle Knudsen, Donna Farley, Gail Bartley, Gail McNally, Harry Demarest, Jean Peterson, Jen Weaver-Neist, Karen Keitz, Lois Rosen, Michael Coolen, Norma Seely, Patricia Barnhart, Patsy Lally, Rachael Pruitt, Robert Freedman, Ryan Chin, Stacy Carleton, Stevan Allred, Valerie Lake

2011 Contest Winners Announced

November 14, 2011 By Becky Kjelstrom Leave a Comment

Celebrity judges, author Robin Cody, and poet Barbara Davis Kroon announced the winners of the Oregon Writers Colony annual writing contests in October. OWC received more than one hundred entries from all over the United States, and even one from Australia.

Short Story Fiction

1st place

Patricia Barnhart, Lakeview, Oregon, Coda

(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
Coda opens like “Lives of the Cowboys” with four horny wise-crackin’ pards playin’ poker in the bunkhouse, but in the morning, when they have work to do, four distinct and appealing characters emerge. They know their horses and they feel the landscape and they get under one another’s skins. The chase is dramatic, not gratuitous, and it leads to a smart twist at the end.

2nd place

Beth Navarro, Corvallis, Oregon, Loba

3rd place

Nancy K. Berry, Seaside, Oregon, Classified Miracle

First Honorable Mention

Kathleen Ewing, Prescott Valley, Arizona, Living Legend

Short Story Non-Fiction

1st place

Joanne Arledge, Yonkers, New York, The Birds

(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
The Birds is a complete short story of the sudden shift in little sister’s view of herself in relation to three wild brothers in a broken family. Boy! This is narrative nonfiction at its best, with finely detailed scenes, a strong sense of place and a sharpshooting, immensely appealing narrator.

2nd place

Valerie Lake, Corvallis Oregon, The Man with No Legs

3rd place

Rick Lamplugh, Corvallis, Oregon, Slugging it Out in the Garden

First Honorable Mention

Samantha Ducloux Waltz, Lake Oswego, Oregon, Persuasion

Other Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical)

Linda Elin, Hamner Philomath, Oregon, O Christmas Tree…O Christmas Tree…
Judith B. Allen, Manzanita, Oregon, Boots
Rachael S. Neal, Missoula, Montana, Kind Eyes
Kate Gilbert, Richmond, NSW, Australia, Strong Lines
Dee Roy, Albany, Oregon, Different Kind of Snake
Sara Truitt, Claremont California, Daughter

Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest

1st Prize

Ada Molinoff, Salem, Oregon, Tethered

2nd Prize

Kathryn Graves-Messer, Keizer, Oregon, Steam

3rd Prize

Gail Black, Portland, Oregon, The Arleta Library

1st Honorable Mention

Jeffrey Jensen, Portland, Oregon, Orpheus The Haunt

2nd Honorable Mention

Kathryn Graves-Messer, Keizer, Oregon, At The Mouth of The Klamath River

3rd Honorable Mention

Gwendolyn Morgan, Willapa Bay, Ecotones

Filed Under: Member News, OWC News Tagged With: Ada Molinoff, Beth Navarro, Contests, Dee Roy, Gail Black, Gwendolyn Morgan, Jeffrey Jensen, Joanne Arledge, Judith B. Allen, Kate Gilbert, Kathleen Ewing, Kathryn Graves-Messer, Linda Elin, Nancy K. Berry, Patricia Barnhart, Patricial Barnhart, Rachael S. Neal, Rick Lamplugh, Robin Cody, Samanth Ducloux Waltz, Samantha Ducloux Waltz, Sara Truitt, Valerie Lake

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