‘Scribendi’ winners announced at public reading
Literature fans filled the Helicon West biweekly reading event Thursday night as winners of the 2013 USU Creative Writing Contest were announced and recognized in front of friends, families, professors and peers.
The contest was open to both undergraduate and graduate students, and students from all areas of study were encouraged to take part. This year’s event received 149 creative writing entries stemming from 22 different fields of USU study.
This contest was one of the best in the event’s 20-year history, according to Professor Michael Sowder. He was especially pleased to receive such a broad range of entrants. This contest was one of the best in the event’s 20-year history but refused to take credit for organizing the project.
The contest winners will have their work published in “Scribendi,” a literary magazine dedicated to exceptional writing and artwork done by USU students. The English department will make copies available to the public on April 26.
Sowder called “Scribendi” a real celebration of all the creative writing talent at USU. But while he is responsible for overseeing the contest and the creation of the magazine, he refused to take responsibility for either’s success.
“I was the faculty adviser for the contest and for the magazine, which means I did absolutely nothing during the creation of this beautiful piece of art,” Sowder said. “Really, all I did was hold weekly meetings in my office.”
Dr. Brock Dethier, one of the competition’s judges and an English professor at USU, said “Scribendi” gives writers, readers and community members the chance to understand how much work goes into a creative writing piece.
“One of the things I like about judging ‘Scribendi’ is that it excites me to see students wrestling with their problems – and the world’s – with creative writing, something I’ve always done myself,” Dethier said in a press release. “It’s difficult judging all the genres, but it’s particularly difficult judging poetry, because taste in poetry is so subjective and idiosyncratic.”
Sarah Thomas, a junior studying creative writing who took first place in the undergraduate poetry and undergraduate non-fiction competition categories, said she was grateful for peers and friends in the creative writing program. She said their joys, concerns, dreams and suggestions for a better future are an inspiration to her.
“I’m lucky to be in the company of such fine writers, tonight and every day in my classes,” she said at the recognition.
Jessica McDermott, a senior studying creative writing, took third place in the undergraduate poetry category. She also took second place for her non-fictional lyric essay “Depth.”
The lyric essay is a fairly new genre in creative nonfiction, McDermott said, and was taught at USU for the first time last fall by professor Jennifer Sinor.
“I took Jennifer’s class last semester and was the first student to get work shopped,” McDermott said. “The second essay I wrote in her class is the one that was published.”
McDermott said “Depth” has undergone multiple rewrites, edits and drafts.
“In all honesty, there are still things I would change, reword or add,” McDermott said. “I guess this final draft was finished by January – it is the essay I sent to grad schools and it got me into a couple grad programs.”
McDermott will be attending the University of Idaho’s Master of Fine Arts program in the fall. She said whenever possible, she keeps a writer’s notebook with her so she can write out ideas, ask questions and research.
“This is mostly due to a great professor, Jennifer Sinor, for teaching me the importance of keeping a writing journal and really sitting with your ideas,” McDermott said. “After curiosity is sparked, I begin writing. I revise as I go, then I usually print out a piece, read it and revise more until I feel like it is ready to be shared with people as a finished piece.”
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