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Charlotte Writers' Club
2009
Elizabeth Simpson Smith Contest
Award for a Short Story
We are no longer accepting entries for the 2009 contest.
Check back soon for a list of this year's winners!
Please direct e-mail inquiries and questions (but not submissions) to:
2008 Elizabeth Simpson Smith Contest Award to Ms. Lynn Veach Sadler
The first place winner in the 2008 Elizabeth Simpson Smith Contest was Ms. Lynn Veach Sadler of Sanford, NC, for her story “Getting’ Above My Raisin.’” Ms. Sadler is a “Distinguished Woman” of North Carolina (so chosen for her work in education) and a former President of Johnson State College in Vermont. Her work has appeared in a number of venues, including The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Kalliope and elizaPress, which named her their Writer of the Year in 2007. Ms. Sadler has also published a number of chapbooks, a novella, “Foot Ways” and a collection of short stories, “Not Dreamt of in your Philosophy.” Judge Laurie Edwards praised “Getting’ Above My Raisin’” for its “unique and fresh voice.” The language and phrasing are, in Ms. Edwards’ words, “vivid and unexpected.”
The Second Place winner was Mr. M. A. Tuohy from Buford, GA. for “A Pair of Epiphanies,” a piece that Judge Edwards chose for its “Great tongue-in-cheek humor.” Edwards went on to say each character “came through as distinct and delineated.”
Third place was awarded to Gwen Veazey of Morganton, NC for her story, “Sound Moves.” Edwards called “Sound Moves” a “smoothly written story with a … sympathetic main character.”
Of the 48 entries, some from as far away as Los Angeles, Tampa and Rome, Judge Edwards also awarded two Honorable Mentions. The first Honorable Mention went to CWC member Elaine St. Anne for “Thirteen Bachelors.” The second Honorable Mention winner was Toccoa Switzer’s “When the Music Stops.”
Many thanks to Mr. Ed Smith, Judge Laurie Edwards and all of the writers who submitted stories for the contest.
Last Year's Judges:
Judges were: Prelim: Ashley Nissler, a published writer from Hillsborough, NC who received an Emerging Artist Grant from the Durham Arts Council in 2005 and also served on their reading committee the following year. Susan Keith, a writer from Ugen, OR who used to live right here in Charlotte. The final judge is Laurie Edwards, of Reidsville, NC. Laurie has published over 450 articles in magazines and recently published a 4-vol. Encyclopedia of North American Tribes for Thompson Gale. She also writes fiction (novels and short stories) for both adults and children.
Judge:
Meredith Hall will serve as the final judge of the 2007 Elizabeth Simpson Smith Fiction Contest. An inspiration to writers of all ages, Ms. Hall returned to college at the age of 40, earning undergraduate degrees in anthropology and English before going on to acquire an M.A. at the University of New Hampshire.
She was the 2004 recipient of the Gift of Freedom Award, a two-year, $50,000 grant from A Room of Her Own Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the work of female artists and writers. She also received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission.
Winner of the 2005 Pushcart Prize, Hall has had work appear in The New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, The Southern Review, and many other journals and anthologies. She also received a citation in "Notable Essays" in The Best American Essays 2005.
Beacon Press will publish her memoir, Without a Map, this year.
Hall teaches creative writing at her alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, which she calls "the best work in the world." She lives on the coast of Maine in a cabin designed and built by her and her three sons, on land that they cleared themselves.
In her spare time, she travels, tends her garden, and "reads a lot." She looks forward to lending her support to Carolina writers.
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Short story contest with $500 First Place award presented in September, 2006
Drexel Writer Wins Smith Award 
The winner of the 2006 Elizabeth Simpson Smith Award is Susan Woodring of Drexel, North Carolina, for her story, "Radio Vision." The awards were presented in September. Woodring is a graduate of the MFA program at Queens University in Charlotte. Her fiction has appeared in Quick Fiction and will soon appear in Main Street Rag, Yemassee, and Isotope. She lives in Drexel with her two children, Abby and Aiden, and her husband, Danny. She has just signed a contract on her first novel, The Traveling Disease.
Final judge for the Elizabeth Simpson Smith Award was Pinckney Benedict, associate professor of English at Hollins University in Virginia. His short fiction has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including Esquire, Best New Stories from South, The O. Henry Award Collection, and The Oxford Book of American Short Stories. Benedict also teaches at the Queens MFA program, though Woodring was never one of his students. Entries are submitted to judges without author identification.
Benedict described "Radio Vision" as a "truly accomplished story, written by a mature writer fully in possession of a compelling fictional voice and vision."
In his e-mail, Benedict added,
"I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about it at first." I have read many stories that depend too heavily on the occasion of JFK's assassination for their emotional resonance, but it won me over with its quirky characters and flawless (to my eye, at least) period detail. I was impressed by how serious (stern, almost) and disciplined the story is, never taking the easy way out or giving in to the temptations of sentimentality. Very few writers have the nerve to electrocute the loving mother of appealing twin boys, though the world would be a better place (literarily, anyway) if they did. The boys themselves are strongly drawn and nicely differentiated. Again, a good piece of fiction and well worthy of your prize."
Benedict named three stories as honorable mentions. He cited "Diversions," by Elizabeth Hatley, for its "sense of humor and the compassion and sympathy with which it treated Lively, its protagonist." Benedict also liked "Connie Sue Confesses," by Betty Wilson Beamguard, which he called "highly amusing," and "Cleaning Up," by Elaine St. Anne, which he deemed "a compelling story."
Benedict praised our preliminary judges, Amy Rogers of Novello Festival Press and Kevin Watson of Press 53, for putting together a fine package of fiction, "full of surprises and pleasures." Final stories chosen by Rogers and Watson also included: "Steady Rain," by Ray Morrison, "The Prayer Circle," by Jennifer C. Vogel, "Prairie Bird," by Tammy Wilson, "Stephano," by J. Paige Straley, "Small Domestic Chore," by Diane Hoover Bechtler, and "The Interrogation," by Jean Beatty.
The Elizabeth Simpson Smith Award was created with a generous endowment by Ed Smith, in memory of his wife, who enjoyed a successful career as a writer and was a long-time champion of the Charlotte Writers' Club.
Past Winners of the Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story Contests
1st place
"The Coachella Inn," by Shelley Stout of Weddington, N.C.
Shelley Stout, of Weddington, North Carolina, is the winner of the 2005 Elizabeth Simpson Smith Award for her short story "The Coachella Inn." She received $500 at the September 20 meeting of the Charlotte Writers' Club.
Douglas Glover, final judge and winner of the Governor-General's 2003 Award for his novel ELLE, wrote that "'The Coachella Inn' is a sad, lovely, simple little story about poverty and sexual depravation told in the voice of a youthful narrator whose innocence serves as a contrast to the adult cynicism he's exposed to. The Coachella Inn is told in restrained yet energetic prose, pitch perfect for the boy narrator (not an easy job), with strong atmospherics and even some delightful comic detail here and there."
The two preliminary judges were Robert Wallace of Durham, N.C. and Isabel Zuber of Winston-Salem. Wallace is a Durham-based writer whose stories have appeared in numerous journals. Isabel Zuber received the Lee Smith Award for Fiction from the Appalachian Writers Association, the University of Tennessee Press short story prize and Virginia Commonwealth University's First Novelist Award for SALT.
Originally from Northern Virginia, Shelley Stout and her husband live in Weddington. They have two sons, both college students. She works part-time for the Union County Public Schools, and teaches writer's workshops for children. Her writing has appeared in local newspapers, literary magazines, and fiction anthologies. Stout won honorable mention in 2003 in the Ann Dowd Gillylan Quarles fiction competition.
2nd place
"The Great Commission," by Betty Burgin Snow of Spartanburg, S.C.
The second place plaque was awarded to by Betty Burgin Snow for her story "The Great Commission." Final judge Douglas Glover wrote of Snow's story, "The Great Commission is a hoot, a funny little old-folks story that packs a sting, a bit of racial-cultural commentary that is both pointed and gentle."
Snow started writing stories in 1997, following thirty-six years as a teacher of English and Spanish in Pennsylvania. She returned to Spartanburg in 2004 to escape the cold winters and be near family members, some of whom appear in her stories, in disguise, of course.
3rd place
"The Hair Cut," by Elaine Orr of Raleigh, N.C.
Third prize was won by Elaine Orr of Raleigh for her story "The Hair Cut." Final judge Douglas Glover wrote of Orr's story, "It's very difficult to carry off this kind of inter-cultural set piece, but the author here does a fine job, with tiny brush strokes, of implying the world of difference between a poor Nigerian boy and an American girl who, despite their differences, nonetheless manage to develop just the whisper of a real human relationship."
Orr teaches at N.C. State University and has published numerous stories and essays, as well as a book about her childhood as the daughter of missionaries in Nigeria entitled The Gods at Noonday.
Honorable Mention
"Every Good-bye Ain't Gone," by Nichole Gause of Charlotte, N.C.
"What's Bad for You," by Louisa Jones of Burlington, N.C.
"Shrimp Are Born Dead," by Raymond Morrison of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Winner: Sara Claytor of Elk Park, N.C. for "Variations of Red."
Honorable Mention. Emily Kern of Charlotte, for "A Meeting of the Minds."
Sara Claytor
Fred Leeborn called the story "wonderfully restrained and deftly detailed."
The 2004-2005 Elizabeth Simpson Smith final judge was Fred Leeborn of Queens University, and the priliminary judges were Paige Owens and Been Steelman. Winner: Paige Owens of Wilmington, N.C. for "Winter Journal"
January 28, the day the Challenger exploded
I heard the news on the radio three hours after the fact, and I wasn't caring, wasn't waiting to hear, just hoping for diversion, my face pushed into my hands, and the jabbering of children assaulting my ears. Was my callousness any less than NASA's -- entertained by launchings and flattered by the prospect of people like me returning refreshed, red-cheeked, as from Cancun?
And instead of rushing to the TV set, I took Margaret onto my lap and began reading Pooh. "'Heffalumps,' says Piglet. 'Help help, a Horrible Heffalump, a Hoffible Hellalump.'" And Maggie listened the whole way through for once, except for a question concerning Deep Pits. "Mommy, why do they always appear so dark?"
Honorable Mentions: Nichole Gause of Rock Hill, S.C., for "Work"
Wanda Owings of Greenville, S.C., "Baby Dance"
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Webmaster, contact
Charlotte
Writers' Club Elizabeth Simpson Smith SHORT FICTION CONTEST
$500.00 award Deadline: May 31, 2008 Charlotte
Writers' Club's MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD!
12 pt ft, double spaced, 1500-4000 word max.
phone number, and email address.
SASE for list of winners only. Winner will be announced in September, 2008. MAIL TO ESS Chair: 8032 S. Dorchester Trace, Fort Mill, SC 29707 Questions? Contact: Annie Maier, 704-277-7919 or
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