SEVERAL STUDENTS received awards in this year’s creative writing contest sponsored by the Missouri State University-West Plains Department of English and Writing Center, and they were recognized during the annual Celebration of Leaders student awards ceremony April 19 at the West Plains Civic Center theater. Front row from left, Sonrisa Quagliato, Mtn. View, second place fiction; and Courtney Kirkland, West Plains, first place essay. Second row: Lemuel Emunah, Dora, first and second place poetry, third place fiction, and third place essay; Oscar Navarrete, West Plains, first place fiction; Zerubbabel Emunah, Dora, third place poetry; and Assistant Professor of English Anthony Priest, who presented the awards. Jessica Smoot, Willow Springs, placed second in the essay category. (Missouri State-West Plains photo)

WEST PLAINS, Mo.– Six students at Missouri State University-West Plains won top honors in the campus’ annual creative writing contest sponsored by the English Department and the Student Advisement and Academic Support (SAAS) Center’s Writing Lab.

Prize money in the amount of $35 and $20 and a copy of Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies, the university’s literary journal, were awarded to the first, second and third place winners, respectively, in each of three categories – essay, fiction and poetry.  Prize money was made possible with a donation from the West Plains Daily Quill.

First place in the essay category went to Courtney Kirkland, West Plains, for her narrative essay “A Lesson Learned the Hard Way.”  Second place went to dually-enrolled high school student Jessica Smoot, Willow Springs, for “Decline of Manners.”  Lemuel Emunah, Mountain View, took third place with “Ascending/Descending.”

For the fiction category, Oscar Navarrete, West Plains, placed first for his story “Air Travel 2091.”  “A Song for the Reaper” by Sonrisa Quagliato, Pomona, earned the second place prize, and Emunah placed third for his piece “Darkness.”

In poetry, Emunah took first and second place for his pieces “Do Shape Shifters Dream?” and “Pockets,” and his father, Zerubbabel Emunah, placed third for his poem “Distractions” for an all-family sweep of the category.

Organizers said they received 31 entries for this year’s contest:  Six essays, 18 poems and seven short stories.  “I’m proud of all the winners, but I have to admit I was super-pleased to find out some of the winning entries came from people who have worked at the tutoring lab,” said Writing Specialist Alexandra Graham, pointing to winners Lemuel Emunah, Kirkland and Quagliato.

Copies of the first, second and third place entries in each category can be viewed online through SAAS’ website, http://wp.missouristate.edu/saas/Contest.htm.

For more information about the contest, contact Graham at 417-255-7942.

Filed Under: Awards · Writing Contest