{"id":25161,"date":"2024-04-12T22:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T02:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/?p=25161"},"modified":"2024-04-12T22:38:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T02:38:00","slug":"tusculum-university-honors-talented-student-writers-and-presents-a-distinguished-author-during-awards-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2024\/tusculum-university-honors-talented-student-writers-and-presents-a-distinguished-author-during-awards-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Tusculum University honors talented student writers and presents a distinguished author during awards ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREENEVILLE<\/strong> \u2013 Two up-and-coming authors captured the top awards honoring the best student writing in four genres during the annual Curtis \u201928 and Billie Owens Literary Prize ceremony Thursday, April 11, at Tusculum University<\/a>.<\/h3>\n
\"Dr.

Dr. Monic Ductan, second from left, stands with honored students, left to right, Zach Mitchell, Kiersten Paxton and Tate Haugen.<\/p><\/div>\n

Junior Kiersten Paxton won in the drama, fiction and nonfiction categories for the titles \u201cA Royal Kill,\u201d \u201cGreen is Blue\u201d and \u201cKids Can See,\u201d respectively. Senior Zach Mitchell was victorious in poetry for \u201cMy Night at Ford Theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paxton and Mitchell also earned honorable mention in poetry and nonfiction, respectively for \u201cThe Dogs\u201d and \u201cThe Nature of Resurrection.\u201d Junior Tate Haugen was the other writer who received recognition with an honorable mention in poetry for \u201cLanguage Barrier.\u201d All of the recipients are English<\/a> majors, concentrating in creative writing, at Tusculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely proud of Kiersten, Zach and Tate, who are dedicated young writers committed to developing high-quality prose,\u201d said Kelsey Trom, associate professor of English. \u201cThey spend multiple hours in our writing lab building their skills and show considerable promise in this profession with the product they have already created. We are also grateful to the many other writers who submitted their work and encourage them to continue growing in their craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition was open to all Tusculum students. Judging the entries was Dr. Monic Ductan, an award-winning writer and author of the recently published short story collection \u201cDaughters of Muscadine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paxton said receiving the awards was a confidence boost for her as a writer. She is interested in becoming a full-time creative writer, and her favorite forms are nonfiction and poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also really heartwarming to know that other people \u2013 especially a successful author \u2013 like something that I wrote,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I like these events so much because the judge says what he or she liked about the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kelsey

Kelsey Trom addresses the audience.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Monic Ductan speaks during the awards ceremony.<\/p><\/div>\n

Paxton described some of the different processes she uses in the three genres she won.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different methods with each one,\u201d Paxton said. \u201cUsually, if I am writing nonfiction, there will be a memory in my head that I have been thinking about a lot recently, and I turn that into a creative piece. For fiction, it\u2019s mostly like some of the stories I read or see on TV. I\u2019ll take aspects of a character that I like and think, \u2018What if they were put into this situation?\u2019 I then write about that. For writing drama, it is what I would think is funny to watch and be played out. In my mind, it\u2019s a lot of \u201870s sitcom. \u2018What\u2019s Up, Doc?\u2019 is something that I think about a lot that I consider really funny and theatrical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who has already written two novels and is working on a third, said he had a big smile on his face when he won. Like Paxton, he views it as a shot in the arm for his confidence. He said Dr. Ductan expressed the same feeling when he interviewed her for a profile that will be published on the website of The Tusculum Review, the university\u2019s international literary journal. He said she told him that the award helped her with her future writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting this affirmation is rewarding in showing that what you are working on is good in someone else\u2019s eyes \u2013 and a professional at that,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big plus. I\u2019m going to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell is currently envisioning pursuing a master\u2019s degree. One field he considers an option as a profession is teaching, but he has also heard about other possibilities in the Media Writing class he is taking this semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to have the opportunity to write full time, but that\u2019s probably down the road,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get that opportunity unless you\u2019re hitting the best seller list or your books are selling so much. It\u2019s a very competitive industry, and it\u2019s really subjective to a certain degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before announcing her selections, Dr. Ductan read a portion of \u201cDaughters of Muscadine,\u201d which is one of the books Trom has read with the students in her Introduction to Short Fiction class. \u201cDaughters of Muscadine\u201d is a book about working-class Black women in a small, Georgia town. Trom praised Dr. Ductan\u2019s writing during Thursday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Monic Ductan, left, signs a copy of her short story collection \u201cDaughters of Muscadine.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Student

Student Zach Mitchell introduces Dr. Monic Ductan.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really delighted to have Monic with us,\u201d Trom said. \u201cStudents had nothing but glowing things to say about her stories. They really perked after reading all of these classic stories and reading Monic\u2019s work. Among the comments were they were some of the most immersive stories that we read this semester \u2013 that we really felt like we were there with the narrators of the stories. They also noted the real beauty of the natural environment that was always in the background of these characters\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Ductan, who is from southern Appalachia, is an associate professor of English at Tennessee Tech University. Her impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes anthologized works, short fiction in journals, creative nonfiction and poetry. Her writing has appeared in\u00a0\u201cOxford American,\u201d\u00a0\u201cShenandoah,\u201d\u00a0\u201cSouth Carolina Review,\u201d\u00a0\u201cAppalachian Review\u201d and several other journals.<\/p>\n

After the reading from \u201cDaughters of Muscadine,\u201d Dr. Ductan shared her perspective on a wide array of subjects as she answered questions from the audience. She dispensed further insight during a follow-up session with Tusculum students on Friday, April 12.<\/p>\n

Curtis Owens was a prize-winning writer and professor, who held a variety of administrative assignments at Pace University. He was a 1928 graduate of Tusculum, where he played football, debated, won an award for philosophy and two awards for poetry as well as wrote the class poem for the 1928 annual. He and his wife, Billie, established the prize in their name at Tusculum in 1995 to highlight creativity and talent among aspiring student writers.<\/p>\n

Additional information about Tusculum\u2019s English program and creative writing concentration are available at https:\/\/site.tusculum.edu\/english-2\/<\/a>. To learn more about the university, please visit www.tusculum.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREENEVILLE<\/strong> \u2013 Two up-and-coming authors captured the top awards honoring the best student writing in four genres during the annual Curtis \u201928 and Billie Owens Literary Prize ceremony Thursday, April 11, at Tusculum University<\/a>.<\/h3>\n

Junior Kiersten Paxton won in the drama, fiction and nonfiction categories for the titles \u201cA Royal Kill,\u201d \u201cGreen is Blue\u201d and \u201cKids Can See,\u201d respectively. Senior Zach Mitchell was victorious in poetry for \u201cMy Night at Ford Theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paxton and Mitchell also earned honorable mention in poetry and nonfiction, respectively for \u201cThe Dogs\u201d and \u201cThe Nature of Resurrection.\u201d Junior Tate Haugen was the other writer who received recognition with an honorable mention in poetry for \u201cLanguage Barrier.\u201d All of the recipients are English<\/a> majors, concentrating in creative writing, at Tusculum.<\/p>\n

Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[131,91,7,160,19,142,169,146,1,6,148,147,149,172],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTusculum University honors talented student writers and presents a distinguished author during awards ceremony :: Tusculum University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2024\/tusculum-university-honors-talented-student-writers-and-presents-a-distinguished-author-during-awards-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tusculum University honors talented student writers and presents a distinguished author during awards ceremony :: Tusculum University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GREENEVILLE \u2013 Two up-and-coming authors captured the top awards honoring the best student writing in four genres during the annual Curtis \u201928 and Billie Owens Literary Prize ceremony Thursday, April 11, at Tusculum University. Junior Kiersten Paxton won in the drama, fiction and nonfiction categories for the titles \u201cA Royal Kill,\u201d \u201cGreen is Blue\u201d and \u201cKids Can See,\u201d respectively. Senior Zach Mitchell was victorious in poetry for \u201cMy Night at Ford Theater.\u201d Paxton and Mitchell also earned honorable mention in poetry and nonfiction, respectively for \u201cThe Dogs\u201d and \u201cThe Nature of Resurrection.\u201d Junior Tate Haugen was the other writer who received recognition with an honorable mention in poetry for \u201cLanguage Barrier.\u201d All of the recipients are English majors, concentrating in creative writing, at Tusculum. 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