We had six judges for the fiction writing contest and 10 entries. Our judges included publishers, authors, teachers and a journalist.
Each judge read every story individually, without knowing the name of the author. Stories were judged in three areas: technical aspects, creativity/readability and story development. The highest score a story could earn from each judge was 30 points. Once all of the stories were judged by all of the judges, the scores were added together. The highest total score a story could receive was 180 points. The judges were very impressed by the entries this year!
We are very thankful that you shared your talent with us. We hope you all continue to write and wish you the best of luck in achieving all of your publishing dreams! Results 1st Place = Dennis Maulsby = Night of the Pooka = 157 Points 2nd Place = Sheryl Carter = The Geranium Curtains = 156 Points 3rd Place = Char Henderson = The End of This Day = 153 Points 4th Place = Cheryl Sease = Drive = 151 Points Escape = 145 Points Colors of My World = 144 Points Golden = 143 Points November = 141 Points The Button = 139 Points The Reverend William E. Long = 130 Points
Award-Winning Author Elaine Marie Cooper writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her latest release, Bethany’s Calendar, is a memoir of her daughter and was written with the goal of helping families going through a loved one’s terminal illness. It received the Selah Award for Best Non-fiction Memoir at the 2015 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Her most recent historical fiction, Fields of the Fatherless, is based on a true story from the American Revolution. It has won three awards, including the Selah Award for best YA fiction in 2014; Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, YA Religious Fiction; and Best Religious Fiction, Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her three-part Revolutionary War Deer Run Saga is re-releasing in December 2015 and in 2016 with a new publisher, CrossRiver Media. Her upcoming new work, Saratoga Letters, will also release in 2016 through Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. For more info on this author, you can visit her website at: Elaine Marie Cooper Author.
Matthew Davenport lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his beautiful wife, Ren. He spends his time writing, reading, and working to promote and support writing communities in Iowa through his company Davenport Writes, LLC. You can keep track of Matthew through his Twitter account @spazenport. Davenport Writes, LLC is a Local Iowa Community of Authors working together to bring our works to the audience’s attention. Matt started Davenport Writes in 2014 with the hopes of creating a large community of support and team work across the state. You can learn more about each of the team members at http://davenportwrites.com.
Tim Bascom’s newest book, the memoir Running to the Fire (University of Iowa Press, 2015) is about his missionary family leaving a small town in Kansas to return to Ethiopia during a Marxist revolution. It follows on the heels of an earlier memoir, Chameleon Days: An American Boyhood in Ethiopia, which won the Bakeless Prize in Nonfiction from Breadloaf Writers Conference. Bascom has published a novel and collection of essays as well, and his essays have won Editor’s Prizes from The Missouri Review and Florida Review, being selected for Best American Travel Writing and Best Creative Nonfiction. He completed his MFA at the University of Iowa and now teaches at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa.
Maggi Myers was born in West Des Moines, Iowa and raised in Miami, Florida. She has a deep love for The Heartland and really good Cuban food. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading or singing into the end of her hairbrush. Currently she resides in The Quad Cities with her family. For more about Maggi you can follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/author.maggi.myers, on Twitter @Magnolia_B_My, on Instagram @authormaggi, and through her website www.maggimyers.com. Representation through ICM Partners/ Gelfman & Schneider Literary Agency.
Larry Baker is an adjunct instructor of American History at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. With a PhD in English, he began teaching composition and literature on the college level in 1988, but he soon discovered that he was an overly critical comp teacher and an overly opinionated lit teacher. Thus, he went back to graduate school and earned 15 hours of post-doctorate credit in history, being certified to teach basic American History courses at the community college level. Larry owned and operated movie theatres throughout Oklahoma and Texas for fifteen years. Larry’s first novel, THE FLAMINGO RISING was published in 1997 by Knopf. FLAMINGO was one of three finalists for the Barnes and Noble “Great New Voices” award for 1997, a Los Angeles Times “Top 100” book for 1997, and chosen by the Iowa Center for the Book to represent Iowa at the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington. It was also adapted for a Hallmark tv movie in 2001. He is also the author of ATHENS/AMERICA (2005), A GOOD MAN (2009) and LOVE AND OTHER DELUSIONS (2012). Larry was included on the Iowa Literary Walk of Fame in 2010; joining other writers such as John Irving, Marilynne Robinson, Kurt Vonnegut, and Flannery O’Connor. His newest novel, THE EDUCATION OF NANCY ADAMS, was released in 2014. Thomas Maltman’s essays, poetry, and fiction have been published in many literary journals. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009 the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an “Outstanding Book for the College Bound.” He’s taught for four years at Normandale Community College and lives in the Twin Cities area. 2014 All Iowa Reads Selection Little Wolves is his second novel.