The literary talent of Tusculum College students was recognized at a national conference in March and the recipients of the campus literary awards were announced later in the month.
Students attending the Literary Festival included (back row) Justin Reed, Ben Sneyd and Kenny Hill. Front row, Noelle Rankin, Joe Borden, Abby Wolfenbarger and Danielle Armstrong.
On Saturday, March 10, seven Tusculum College English creative writing majors attended Hollins University’s 52nd Annual Lex Allen Literary Festival in Roanoke, Va. with Heather Patterson, associate professor of English.
Attending students include Danielle Armstrong, a senior from Blountville; Joseph Borden, a sophomore from Lyles; Kenneth Wayne Hill, a senior from White Pine; Noelle Rankin, a junior from Hixson; Justin Reed, a senior from Florence, S.C.; Ben Sneyd a senior from Greeneville and formerly of Erwin, and Abigail Wolfenbarger, a senior from New Market.
The festival included readings by double National Education Association Fellowship recipient David Huddle, Prairie Schooner Book Prize winner and fiction writer Katherine Vaz and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey.
Students were invited to submit creative works for the festival’s contests in poetry and fiction. Students Armstrong and Reed were selected as two of seventeen finalists in the poetry category. Their work was read and discussed in a poetry panel comprised of Huddle; Tretheway; poet, novelist, essayist and translator Jeanne Larsen, and poet Thorpe Moeckel.
Reed’s poem, “Everyone Down Here is Pretty” was selected as runner-up winner of the poetry prize. The overall winner was a student from Hollins.
In acknowledgement of the quality of Reed’s poem, Trethewey signed a copy of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Native Guard,” one of Reed’s prizes for second place with, “To Justin, in admiration of your poem.”
Reed said, “I had kind of approached this experience with a pack mind. I wanted Tusculum to walk away with something. We did. It feels good to flaunt our family, and I’m glad I helped.”
“These writers served as exceptional representatives of Tusculum College,” said Patterson. I was approached several times by members of Hollins faculty, and they complimented our students on their writing and their dedication to publishing. Lisa Radcliff, (Hollins University English Department programs assistant) was impressed with their questions, their work and their overall presence at the festival—as this is the first time Tusculum has attended—and poet Jeanne Larsen commented to me that she remembered the name ‘Tusculum’ because of the ‘fine journal you all put out there.’”
Of his time at the festival, Sneyd said, “It was a blast. Getting to listen to writers like Natasha Trethewey isn’t something undergraduate students get to do every day. Also, the opportunities to meet people and network have been endless for us on these trips, and I look forward to attending the festival again in the future.”
Patterson added, “We should be proud of our writing students’ achievements. The contest pool was rather large.”
Tusculum students competed against 204 entrants in poetry from colleges and universities including Harvard University, Susquehanna University, Penn State-Erie, the University of South Florida, Sweet Briar College, Middlebury College, Guilford College, James Madison University, Washington and Lee University, Emerson College, Case Western Reserve University, Salem College, Western Kentucky University, the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Hiram College, Virginia Western Community College, Hollins University and the University of Alabama.
Winners of the 2012 Curtis and Billie Owens Literary Awards included Justin Reed, left, and Danielle Armstrong, right. Author Erin Tocknell, center, made the announcement of the winners of the annual literary competition for Tusculum College students during a reading of her work on Thursday.
Justin Reed and Danielle Armstrong were again recognized along with Andrew Banker as the recipients of the 2012 Curtis and Billie Owens Literary Awards, annually presented to recognize the literary achievements of the college’s creative writing students.
Reed was the award recipient in two categories. His poems, “The Catacomb Kids” and “/’win tƏr/Poem,” earned him the award for the poetry category, and his script, “Act One of the Devil’s Pander” was named the scriptwriting winner.
Armstrong was selected the award recipient in the non-fiction category with her essay, “On Rejection.” This is the second time that Armstrong has received an Owens Literary Award. She also won the non-fiction category in 2010.
Andrew Baker received an “honorable mention” in the non-fiction category for his work “Running Toward White Castle.” Baker is a junior from Athens, Tenn., majoring in creative writing.
The literary award was named for Curtis Owens, a 1928 graduate of Tusculum College who went on to a teaching career at what is now Pace University in New York. He and his wife established the Owens Award at his alma mater to encourage and reward excellence in writing among Tusculum students.
The announcement of the winners was made during a reading Thursday evening by award-winning author Erin Tocknell, who served as the judge for the final round of competition. The reading was part of the annual Humanities Series, sponsored by the Tusculum College English Department.
Tocknell read the essay, “That’s What We’re Doing Here,” about her experiences as a small-town news reporter. The essay is included in her first book, “Confederate Streets,” which won the Benu Press Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Non-Fiction. A teacher at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, she was the winner of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Intro Award in 2007 and has been published in “Tampa Review,” “The Southern Review,” “Ancient Paths” and “Oakland Review.”