AWC 2010 Spring Contest Winners

Poetry

• First Place: "For the Hand Held" - Julie E. Bloemeke
• Second Place: "Going Home" - Susan Crawford
• Third Place: "Night" - David Robinson

Article

• First Place: "Obsession Leads to Empowerment for DJ Turned Film-maker" - Jef Blocker
• Second Place: "Something Ain't Right" - Buzz Bernard
• Third Place: "Sweet Tee: Home Wine of the South" - Walter Lawrence

Spiritual/Religious/Inspirational

• First Place: "Lead On, Angel of Hope" - Therra Cathryn Gwyn
• Second Place: "Gospel with a Side of Fries" - Laura Lee P. Huttenbach
• Third Place: "Lost and Found in the Winding Streets of Venice, Italy" - Margaret Robbins

Short Story

• First Place: "A Talented Heart" - Deidre L. Shannon
• Second Place: "Mr. Thistle" - Linda Sullivan
• Third Place: "The Glass Sniffer" - Ken Schmanski

 Bragg and Brewer, Writing with Color: All-Day Workshop on September 25, 2010

Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction author Rick Bragg--one of best storytellers the South ever produced--and author/editor Sonny Brewer are teaming up and blowing in from 'Bama on Saturday, September 25. They'll grab hold of your attention all day with discussions about every kind of writing; the good, the bad, and the stupid worlds of publishing; and perils, adventures, and rewards of the writing life.

The Workshop

Their skill with language and their unique perspectives gained from decades spent making a living with the written word will give you the insights you can't get from lesser writers or less-accomplished storytellers. They'll captivate you, guaranteed.

Rather than discussing the tools of writing, they plan to talk about why good writing works all of the time no matter the subject matter and why bad writing about even the most interesting topic falls flat. They'll also tell you the lessons they've learned from the writing life, the nightmares they've lived through with agents and publishers big and small, and the grace they've experienced from editors and readers alike. If you like your war stories served salty, Rick and Sonny will provide plenty of spice.

They will leave lots of time, though, to answer all your questions about every facet of the writing game. How many chances do you get to quiz a best-selling Pulitzer Prize winner and the editor/novelist who single-handedly turned Fairhope, Alabama into a literary hotspot?

The Schedule

• 9:30 a.m.: Arrival and check in at AWC registration desk
• 10:00 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Bragg and Brewer Workshop: Writing with Color
• 12 p.m. - 12:45 p.m.: Pizza and salad lunch and booksigning with the authors
• 12:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Workshop continues, concluding with final Q&A

The Opportunity

The Presenters

Rick now works as a writing professor at the University of Alabama's journalism program in its College of Communications and Information Sciences. The Alabama Scholastic Press Association, sponsored by The University of Alabama, has named a journalism prize in his honor: the Rick Bragg Award for Feature Writing.

In Rick's own words: "My Grandfather on my daddy's side and my grandma on my momma's side used to try and cuss their miseries away. They could out-cuss any damn body I have ever seen. I am only an amateur cusser at best, but I inherited other things from these people who grew up on the ridges and deep in the hollows of northeastern Alabama, the foothills of the Appalachians. They taught me, on a thousand front porch nights, as a million jugs passed from hand to hand, how to tell a story."

Sonny Brewer is the author of four novels: The Poet of Tolstoy Park, A Sound Like Thunder, Cormac--The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing, and The Widow and the Tree. He also edited the anthology series Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe as well as wrote and self-published three other books. Sonny founded Over the Transom Bookstore in Fairhope, AL and its annual literary conference, Southern Writers Reading. He also is founder of the non-profit Fairhope Center for Writing Arts.

From Sonny's website (www.overthetransom.com): "Sonny's training as a writer began with his first real job at 15, where he flipped burgers as a short-order cook at Woody's Drive-In in Millport, Alabama. His story-telling education continued as service station attendant, pants folder, folk singer, used car salesman, sailor and electronics technician in the U.S. Navy, tugboat deckhand, traveling used tire salesman, carpenter, building contractor, real estate salesman, purveyor of collectible automobiles, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, teacher, lecturer, coffeehouse manager, bookseller, publisher, and, lately, novelist."

The Location

The Cost and Registration

To register, send an e-mail to John Sheffield. John will reply with payment instructions.