The Paul Hughes Memorial Writing Award

Hughes emceeing a radio broadcast from
 the rim of the Grand Canyon (1940s)

The Department of English and Languages announces the 2013 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. Submissions will be accepted in the English department, Horace Mann 301 or Horace Mann 317, until Monday, April 1. Students may also email entries to mwalling@ecok.edu. This deadline will be strictly enforced. Students may submit a total of five individual works. Individual prose submissions may not exceed 10,000 words. Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place. Last year, the awards were $200, $100, and $50. 

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 Salisbury 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.

Submitted manuscripts for the award should be neatly typed. Prose should be double-spaced. Poetry should be single-spaced except to separate stanzas. Each work should have a cover page listing the author's name, title of the work, classification (senior. . .), major, address, telephone number, and email address. Notification will be delivered to the email address. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript. Entries will not be returned.

Dr. Mark Walling
Professor
Dept. of English and Languages
East Central University
Ada, OK 74820
(580) 559-5440