Submit for the 2020 Paul Hughes Memorial Writing Award!

Creative Writing Contest for ECU Students

 The Department of English and Languages announces the 2020 Paul Hughes Memorial Writing Award, an annual creative writing competition open to all East Central University students.  Any form of creative writing, including poetry, fiction, drama, teleplay, screenplay, and creative nonfiction, is eligible for consideration.

To submit, take your name off the pages of the files you wish to submit and attach the files to an email. In the body of the email type your name, student ID number, major, and classification (senior, junior, sophomore, freshman, graduate student, or concurrent high school student – all are eligible). You may place all of your works into one file and or into separate files. You must submit them through email to mwalling@ecok.edu by 10: 00 a.m. on Monday, April 13, 2020. This deadline will be strictly enforced.

Students may submit a total of five individual works (3 poems, 1 story, 1 essay) or (1 poem, 1 story, 3 essays). The judges can make awards based upon one work or five works. The quality of the writing more than the amount is of highest concern to the judges. Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place.  Last year, the awards were $300, $200, and $100. 

Format

Submitted manuscripts for the award should be neatly typed in a clear 12-pt. font. Prose should be double-spaced. Poetry should be single-spaced except to separate stanzas. Do not place your name on the creative work(s). In the body of the email that submits your works, place your name, student ID number, major and classification. Individual prose submissions may not exceed 10,000 words. Individual poems may not exceed 150 lines. 

Who was Paul Hughes?

Born in Roff, Paul Hughes attended Ada High School and earned his B.A. with honors from East Central in 1936.  At ECU, Hughes served as president of the senior class, editor of the campus newspaper, and captain of the debate team.  At age 27, Hughes published his first novel, Retreat from Rostov, with Random House.  He went on to publish 15 other books, including Challenge at Changsa (Macmillan), Jeff (John Day), and The Salsbury Story (Univ. of Arizona Press), and numerous short stories in magazines such as Collier's, Seventeen, Woman's Home Companion, Vogue, and Liberty.  After a brief term as night editor of the Ada Evening News, Hughes began a long career with KTAR Radio and Television, becoming one of the most recognizable air personalities in Arizona. In 1971, he gave the ECU commencement address and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. 

Reading Camus with Daniel Bonar!

One of our esteemed English major alums, Daniel Bonar, has started a video reading series to help us get through our communal isolation and lack of classes at ECU! His first video is from the first two chapters of Camus' The Plague, which many English majors have read in various classes over the years. Click on the link below to listen--or find him on FB! And if anyone else wants to join in, let me know and I can add your videos to the page as well. Otherwise, keep reading good books and find the meaning in the insanity of our modern world! 

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.bonar/videos/10212234662980717/?t=0

Scissortail is Cancelled--but the Celebration of Writers Continues!

Sadly, due to the pandemic, Scissortail--and almost every other festival and conference in the country--has been cancelled. This is the first time in the 15 years of the Festival that this has occurred (and hopefully, the last). However, part of the Festival continues: the recognition of our High School Creative Writing Contest for Fiction and Poetry! Hundreds of writers from dozens of schools submitted poems and short stories to our contest, and last week, we ranked them into 13 winners in both categories. 

We are always thrilled to recognize these up-and-coming writers, many of whom are winning awards (and money) for the first time in their writing careers. But we are also anxious to recognize their teachers as well, many of whom design their assignments around the competition, and often help the student revise their work and even submit it. One teacher personally sends an envelope to me every year bursting with 30-40 poems! As you can imagine, that requires a lot of stamps...

The winners are listed below: please congratulate these students and their teachers if you know them, and encourage other high school students to enter the contest next year (when we can hopefully recognize their achievement in person). ALSO: we'll soon be announcing our Undergraduate Creative Writing Contest winners, so stay tuned at ecuscissortail.blogspot.com! 

Poetry Winners

First Place: Eva Hicks. "Torturous Dreams." Edmond MHS (Instructor: Kelly Bristow)
Second Place: Izabel Tyler. "Bones." Little Axe HS (Neal Elkins)
Third Place: Skyla Daniels. "Joy." Chandler HS (Kim Leatherwood)

Honorable Mentions:
Gracie Kinnaman. "There is a Line." Cascia Hall (Sarah Kennedy)
Layla Drotar. "Monroe County, MI." Cascia Hall (Sarah Kennedy)
Laura Ramos. "Breeze." Mustang HS (David Christy)
Emily Newby. "Self Discovery," Broken Arrow HS (Patricia Torres)
Cat Draper. "Crime to Love." Edmond MHS (Kelly Bristow)
Emma Bax. "The Good One." Edmond MHS (Kelly Bristow)
Jacob Compton. "Castle at the Edge of the Sea." Lawton HS (Terence Freeman)
Aahila Patton. "Growing Wings." Lawton HS (Terence Freeman)
Gabrielle McMahon-Csaki. "Sleep Deprived." Vanoss HS (Beverly Rambo)
Emma Lane. "Not Enough." Mount Saint Mary Catholic HS (Rebecca Lane)

Fiction Winners:

First Place: Delanie Seals. “Interim.” Byng High School (Instructor: Courtney White)
Second Place: Guthrie Jenkins. “The Loneliest Road.” Norman High School (Sara Doolittle)
Third Place: Evan Boothe. “Operation Armageddon.” Washington High School (Jessica Enox)

Honorable Mention:
Gabrielle McMahon-Csaki. “Flavia.” Vanoss High School (Beverly Rambo)
Bailey Sparks. “Letters Never Sent.” Washington High School (Dawn Lanham)
Hailey Kafitz. “Dear.” Norman High School (Sara Doolittle)
Rhylee Tucker. “Lights Out.” Pauls Valley High School (Stephanie Bonner)
Jennie Higdon. “I Can’t Remember the Title.” Washington High School (Brandi Castle)
Perrisa A. Borders. “The Devil Wears Saint Laurent.” Pathways Middle College (Michelle Manning)
Ian Holdman. “The Cold.” Bartlesville High School (Anna Garrett)
Emma Dennin. “James, Grace, and the Subways.” Edmond Memorial High School (Kelly Bristow)
Emily Newby. “Vacuvallum: Desolate and Paradisal.” Broken Arrow High School (Patricia Torres)
Hayleigh Carrillo. “Rings Made of Gold and Lies.” Pathways Middle College (Michelle Manning)

Creative Writing Opportunity! Write 500 words--get $50!

I just wanted to let all English majors, especially those taking Creative Writing courses, know that there is a great contest sponsored by the website, Story Pony, currently underway.

Until March 31st, you can submit a flash fiction story in one of five genres: sci-fi, fantasy, crime, or adventure that is NO MORE THAN 500 WORDS LONG. That's very short, by the way --only about 2 pages. 

Here are the rest of the rules, from their website: 

To submit your story, click on ‘Add Story’ in the top right corner. For your story to be considered as a contestant, write the word ‘Contest’ in the ‘Tags’ field before submitting your story.

You can submit as many stories as you wish. Please note that we reserve the right to not accept your submission. Those who will be successful will be notified via email.

The Flash Fiction contest will have two winners

One winner will be the author of the submission with most points (tiebreakers are decided by us). Make sure your friends vote for you by clicking the ‘up’ arrow to give you a point! This winner will get $50 and have their piece shared on our social media channels (Facebook and Instagram).

The second winner (or winners) will be selected by us. These authors will have the opportunity to be included in our anthology. You might end up being published by us!

READY TO ENTER? You can do so at Story Pony's website: https://storypony.com/blog/short-story-contest-50-for-500-words/3465/ 

GOOD LUCK! 

ECU's Scissortail Creative Writing Festival: April 2-4

We're less than a month away from ECU's 15th annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival! As in previous years, the festival showcases some of the greatest writing talent from the region (throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and even a few from New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, and elsewhere!). If you've never been, we encourage to to attend one of the many festivals throughout the day and night on April 2nd, 3rd, and 4th! You can find the full schedule here: http://ecuscissortail.blogspot.com/2020/01/2020-schedule-of-readings.html) 

Each session will feature 3-4 writers (poets and prose writers), with a chance to purchase their books afterwards at the book table outside of the Estep Auditorium (in the Cole Student Center). Our special featured readers will perform at 7:00 on Thursday and Friday evening, as well as at noon on Saturday. Attendance is always free--though most attendees leave with a book or two (or twelve). Remember, too, that authors are more than happy to sign their books between sessions or after one of the featured readings! 

We will also be recognizing winners of the Undergraduate Writing Contest on Friday, April 3 at 7:00 and the Darryl Fisher High School Creative Writing Contest on Saturday at noon. 

Any English majors that wish to volunteer their time at the book table or for other duties regarding the festival should contact Dr. Ken Hada as soon as possible at khada@ecok.edu (or go talk to him in his office). But even if you don't volunteer, please consider attending and share this unique experience with other members of the English and Languages community! 

A complete list of readers and other information can be found at the Scissortail website here: http://ecuscissortail.blogspot.com/

See you soon!