New Category Includes Writers Ages 25 & Greater

The Nature of Words’ (NOW) judges have spoken! Their chosen winners of the 2011 Rising Star Creative Writing Competition include emerging writers from Oregon and Washington in three age categories and four genres: poetry, fiction, literary non-fiction and nature essay. For the first time in the competition’s seven years, writers age 25 and greater were eligible to enter submissions. The Rising Star Creative Writing Competition is sponsored by the University of Oregon.
All winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony and reception that is the opening event of The Nature of Words literary festival, November 2-6. In addition, winning entries will be featured in NOW’s 2011 anthology of student work titled Shout Out, which will be released in November at the literary festival.
The 2011 Rising Star winners and titles of their winning entries are as follows:

Poetry
Ages 15-18
Winner: Teresa Lane, Vancouver, Washington for Mecca Beach
Honorable Mention: Anna Mae Zinn, Prineville, Oregon for Cottonwood Dreams
Ages 19-25
Winner: Elijah Goodall, Bend, Oregon for Eulogy Oak
Honorable Mention: Eleanor Ellis, Salem, Oregon for When Evening Falls
Ages 25+
Winner: Linda Beeman, Clinton, Washington for Delores
Honorable Mention: Howard Bruner, Corvallis, Oregon for Nevada; Megan Risley, Seattle, Washington for Dinner With My Father

Fiction
Ages 15-18
Winner: Angelica Dawson, Bend, Oregon for Angel
Honorable Mention: Wyatt Strauslin, Eugene, Oregon for Javier and the Manstalk
Ages 19-25
Winner: Louis H. Vowell III, La Pine, Oregon for Copeland (An Excerpt)
Honorable Mention: Lillian Jolly, Bend, Oregon for Taggert’s List
Ages 25+
Winner: Zane Bloom, Bend, Oregon for A Woman on Fire

Literary Non-Fiction
Ages 15-18
Winner: Sarah Sargent, Bend, Oregon for Connections
Ages 19-25: No award
Ages 25+
Winner: Will George, Astoria, Oregon for The Plains Life

Nature Essay
Ages 15-18 and 19-25: No award
Ages 25+
Winner: Ginger Dehlinger, Bend, Oregon for Last Ride

In addition to the Rising Star Creative Writing Competition Awards Ceremony on November 2, the five-day November festival offers two nights of guest author readings and book signings in the Tower Theatre, two days of workshops, lectures and presentations on the OSU-Cascades and Central Oregon Community College campuses, a gala author dinner with a keynote speaker and brief author readings, and the Sunday Author Reading and Open Mic for workshop participants and the community. Guest authors include Augusten Burroughs, Heidi Durrow, William Kittredge, Nancy Mairs, Seth Mnookin, Aimée Nezhukumatathil, Keith Scribner, Mark Spragg and Kevin Young.
www.thenatureofwords.org.