Erma Bombeck Writing Competition - Winners
Writers from Around the World Enter Competition!
More than 1,300 writers from 22 countries and 47 states (plus Washington, D.C.) entered the 2007 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition sponsored by Washington-Centerville Public Library and the University of Dayton. In the end, judges chose essays from the Dayton area, as well as Beaverton, Oregon and Wilmington, Ohio as winners in the competition's eleventh year.
"The response has been amazing," comments Mike Colvin, coordinator of the annual contest. "We continue to be thrilled and impressed year after year by the enthusiasm not only in Erma's home town, but all over the nation and the world. It's rewarding to host a competition that encourages so many writers locally while also reaching as far as New Zealand, India, and the Philippines."
Colvin credits the high response rate to Bombeck's broad appeal, the fact that the competition does not charge an entry fee, and the Library's partnership with the University of Dayton, where the bi-annual Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop is coordinated by Tim Bete. Bete's workshop e-newsletter helps promote the writing competition to past attendees and others interested in humor writing. The next Writers Workshop is scheduled for April 3 - 5, 2008.
The annual writing competition pays tribute to Erma Bombeck, one of America's great humorists, and encourages aspiring writers to submit previously unpublished personal essays of 450 words or fewer. First prizes were awarded to local and global winners in two categories, Humor and Human Interest. Judges also selected several entries for Honorable Mention.
Entries were judged in two rounds - first by a panel of judges from across the United States and Canada, and then by a final judge in each category. This year's final judges were popular columnists for the Dayton Daily News.
About the Final Judges:
D.L. Stewart, Humor Category
Syndicated columnist D.L. Stewart has been writing for Dayton Newspapers for 40 years, including 31 years as a columnist. He says he's going to keep doing it until he gets one right.
Mary McCarty,
Human Interest Category
Mary McCarty has been a three-times-a-week Metro columnist for the Dayton Daily News since 1997. Before that, she was an investigative reporter for the Dayton Daily News and a staff writer and senior editor for Cincinnati Magazine. She has received numerous statewide and national awards, including being named Writer of the Year for Cox Newspapers and twice being named Best Columnist in Ohio by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists.
More than 1,300 writers from 22 countries and 47 states (plus Washington, D.C.) entered the 2007 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition sponsored by Washington-Centerville Public Library and the University of Dayton. In the end, judges chose essays from the Dayton area, as well as Beaverton, Oregon and Wilmington, Ohio as winners in the competition's eleventh year.
"The response has been amazing," comments Mike Colvin, coordinator of the annual contest. "We continue to be thrilled and impressed year after year by the enthusiasm not only in Erma's home town, but all over the nation and the world. It's rewarding to host a competition that encourages so many writers locally while also reaching as far as New Zealand, India, and the Philippines."
Colvin credits the high response rate to Bombeck's broad appeal, the fact that the competition does not charge an entry fee, and the Library's partnership with the University of Dayton, where the bi-annual Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop is coordinated by Tim Bete. Bete's workshop e-newsletter helps promote the writing competition to past attendees and others interested in humor writing. The next Writers Workshop is scheduled for April 3 - 5, 2008.
The annual writing competition pays tribute to Erma Bombeck, one of America's great humorists, and encourages aspiring writers to submit previously unpublished personal essays of 450 words or fewer. First prizes were awarded to local and global winners in two categories, Humor and Human Interest. Judges also selected several entries for Honorable Mention.
Entries were judged in two rounds - first by a panel of judges from across the United States and Canada, and then by a final judge in each category. This year's final judges were popular columnists for the Dayton Daily News.
About the Final Judges:
Syndicated columnist D.L. Stewart has been writing for Dayton Newspapers for 40 years, including 31 years as a columnist. He says he's going to keep doing it until he gets one right.
Human Interest Category
Mary McCarty has been a three-times-a-week Metro columnist for the Dayton Daily News since 1997. Before that, she was an investigative reporter for the Dayton Daily News and a staff writer and senior editor for Cincinnati Magazine. She has received numerous statewide and national awards, including being named Writer of the Year for Cox Newspapers and twice being named Best Columnist in Ohio by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists.
| 1st Place - Humor Category, Dayton Area: |
| Dave Hoskins of Dayton, Ohio Dave Hoskins lives in Dayton, OH and works in the Technology department at Standard Register. He credits his wife and daughters with helping him to see the humorous side of everyday life. His bumper is devoid of any wisdom or advice. Read Dave's Essay Judge D.L. Stewart's Comments: "I've never understood people who will spend $40,000 for a gorgeous car and then plaster a $1.49 bumper sticker on it declaring that they have visited Gatlinburg. But this essay does a wonderful job of pointing out the kinds of wit and wisdom riding on the vehicles of America." |
| 1st Place - Humor Category, Global: |
| LouAnn Edwards of Beaverton, Oregon LouAnn Edwards lives with her husband and six children in Beaverton, Oregon. She writes for local and online publications and currently hosts the cable TV show "Woman To Woman." Read LouAnn's Essay Judge D.L. Stewart's Comments: "I wish I'd written this one (and maybe I will some day). Like all the best humor, it manages to be both funny and real at the same time. Which makes it really funny." |
| 1st Place - Human Interest Category, Dayton Area: |
| Donna Hrkman of Dayton, Ohio Donna Hrkman is a crazy mom, wife, and artist who loves her family and tries to honor them whenever possible. She makes hooked rugs, reads mystery novels and chauffers her sons around. Writing is a significant outlet for her thoughts and feelings. Read Donna's Essay Judge Mary McCarty's Comments: "The writer captures the emotional experience of going through family photos. She uses vivid language to describe the photos "scattered tornado style." I love the similar terms sprinkled throughout the essay, describing the hunt for photos as "an archaeological dig" and the archive itself as "the puzzle pieces of my life." As the essay develops, the battered cardboard box becomes the metaphor for the links between generations. The writer makes this universal experience a very personal and individual one. Very nicely done." |
| 1st Place - Human Interest Category, Global: |
| Kathleen Norman of Wilmington, Ohio Kathleen Norman has worked for the past 11 years as a technical writer for Xerox Corporation. She has had an essay published by the Christian Science Monitor. Her adventures on the homefront during her husband's 15-month deployment with the National Guard will provide writing fodder for years to come. Read Kathleen's Essay Judge Mary McCarty's Comments: "The deceptive simplicity of this essay is evident even in its title, "Gravity," which can be interpreted in several different ways. It can be read as the gravity of the woman's situation - she is raising three children while her husband is away at war. It can be interpreted as the weight of the world dragging her down, as when the protagonist reflects, "Let someone else bear this burden for a while. Weekly trips to the grocery, day care, post office, feed mill." Then, as she is feeding the horses, one of her endless evening chores, she hears tiny daughter on the baby monitor, shifting in her sleep: "Her small body, like a counterbalance, pulls me forward instead of down." This is a different kind of gravity, what novelist T.C. Boyle has described "as the intense gravity of love." In a few paragraphs the writer conveys all the pressures facing a woman whose husband is deployed overseas, and helps us to understand what keeps her going." |
| Honorable Mentions: |
| Humor Category, Dayton Area: Charlene Kochensparger of Centerville, Ohio - Read Charlene's Essay Jennifer Wagley of Dayton, Ohio - Read Jennifer's Essay Humor Category, Global: Del Shannon of Boulder, Colorado - Read Del's Essay Brian Cormier of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada - Read Brian's Essay Human Interest Category, Dayton Area: Lisa Cairney of Dayton, Ohio - Read Lisa's Essay Nelson Lackings of Dayton, Ohio - Read Nelson's Essay Cynthia Dunlevy of New Carlisle, Ohio - Read Cynthia's Essay Christina Cahall of Kettering, Ohio - Read Christina's Essay Celia Elliott of Centerville, Ohio - Read Celia's Essay Kimberly Adams of Dayton, Ohio - Read Kimberly's Essay Human Interest Category, Global: Lynette Sheffield of Bend, Oregon - Read Lynette's Essay Rosie Sorenson of Richmond, California - Read Rosie's Essay Joann Burand of Anderson, Indiana - Read Joann's Essay Dianna Graveman of St. Charles, Missouri - Read Dianna's Essay Angie Klink of Lafayette, Indiana - Read Angie's Essay Sharon Cook of Beverly, Massachusetts - Read Sharon's Essay Lois Gordon of Sunderland, Ontario, Canada - Read Lois' Essay Don Perkins of Des Moines, Iowa - Read Don's Essay Darla Curry of The Woodlands, Texas - Read Darla's Essay |