The English program of the Cameron University Department of Communication, English, and Foreign Language has honored several students for their creative writing.
Jason Caha, Lawton, won first prize in the Leigh Holmes Prize for Creative Nonfiction for his essay “Decelerando: My Struggle With Perfection.” Runner-up was Hailie Callaway, Walters, for “Animal Studies.” Cameron English faculty members Dr. William Carney, Leah Chaffins, Dr. John Hodgson and Dr. John G. Morris judged submissions for the contest, which is open to all Cameron undergraduate students. The late Holmes, professor emeritus of English, established the contest in 2003 to encourage Cameron students to write creative nonfiction well.
Callaway was honored with the first place award in the John G. Morris Poetry Prize competition for her poem “An Ode to the Five Acres Beneath My Children’s Feet.” Samantha Beene, Lawton, won the second place prize for her poem “How a Girl Learns to Sew,” and Blakeleigh Delgado, Elgin, won the third prize for her poem, “Father I Saw You Today.” Sarah Lindsey, Apache, was judged first honorable mention for her poem “Redbuds on Campus,” and Michele Pierce, Frederick, received second honorable mention for “Silence.” Dr. Jenny Yang Cropp, Assistant Professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University, was the judge. Morris, a professor of English, established the contest in 2006 to honor his mother, the late Marian Cary Miles Morris-Zepp.
“Decelerando” and “An Ode Beneath My Children’s Feet” will be published in “The Gold Mine,” Cameron’s literary arts magazine. In addition, program faculty nominated Callaway’s poem and essay as well as “Skinwalkers of the Sangre de Cristos,” a novel by Thomas Juarez, Lawton, for the Associated Writers and Writing Program Intro series competition. Winners of that national competition will be published in three national literary journals.
###
#21-056
