Contact: Chris Chesrown
Media Relations Manager
480-731-8503

For Immediate Release

CREATIVE WRITERS TAKE HONORS
Top Winners go to National Competition

February 11, 2002 – Twenty-four students are winners in the Maricopa Community Colleges 2001-2002 Creative Writing Competition.

For the 12th straight year, the contest included hundreds of entries from students throughout the 10-college district in four categories: Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Short Story and One-Act Play. Students focused on a variety of topics in their work, from a poem on “Applied Math” to a short story about homelessness called “A Bum’s Tale.”

First place winners in each category are entered into a national competition for writers sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College. They also receive a $300 prize. Second place in each category wins $200; $150 is awarded for third place and $100 for honorable mention.

The Maricopa Community Colleges competition is sponsored by the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) Fine Arts Programs. Judges for this year’s competition included: Mark Wunderlich, (Provincetown, Massachusetts) poet and writer; Alison Deming, (Tucson) Director of the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona; Annie Lopez, (Phoenix) playwright and performance artist and Lusia Slomkowska, (Tucson) writer and essayist. The winners are:

Poetry / First Place: Denice Caldwell, Scottsdale Community College, Applied Math. Second Place: Misty Kiwak Jacobs, Scottsdale Community College, Divorce. Third Place: Carol Hoesch, Rio Salado College, After Carrington. Honorable Mention: Kimberly Rock, Phoenix College, Greenwich Village, 1953; Roxane Barwick, Scottsdale Community College, Transvestite; and James Vest, Scottsdale Community College, Looking at Lights.

Creative Non-Fiction / First Place: Diayn Day, Glendale Community College, Aunt Melba’s Accidental Detour. Second Place: Roxanne Wheelock, Paradise Valley Community College, The Beast Within. Third Place: Denice Caldwell, Scottsdale Community College, A Reader’s Journey. Honorable Mention: Suzanne Lawrence, Scottsdale Community College, Why I No Longer Smoke; Linda Pressman, Paradise Valley Community College, Poker Party; and Tracy Werth, Phoenix College, Red, Ripe Tomatoes.

Short Story / First Place: Diayn Day, Glendale Community College, A Bum’s Tale. Second Place: James Vest, Scottsdale Community College, Speedway Radar Pigs. Third Place: Zooey Stone, Scottsdale Community College, A Stole of Plastic. Honorable Mention: Nancy McCurry, Paradise Valley Community College, A Quarter, Two Dimes and a Penny; Deborah Bauer, Phoenix College, The Infant Department; and Marika Brown, Scottsdale Community College, One Finger.

One-Act Play / First Place: Dennis Burns, Paradise Valley Community College, Marbles. Second Place: Michael Pauley, Scottsdale Community College, Dried Rose Dreams in the Garden of Eve. Third Place: Gareth Amphlett, Paradise Valley Community College, Two Monkeys and a Pepsi Can. Honorable Mention: Christina Roberts, Paradise Valley Community College, April Fool; Elizabeth Farris, Phoenix College, Potluck with Two Hot Dishes; and Tracy Werth, Phoenix College, Escape on a Blue Note.

An awards reception is being planned for later this spring. The district will publish an anthology of the award winning entries.

The Maricopa County Community College District is one of the largest community college districts in the nation. It includes 10 colleges – Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Estrella Mountain Community College, GateWay Community College, Glendale Community College, Mesa Community College, Paradise Valley Community College, Phoenix College, Rio Salado College, Scottsdale Community College and South Mountain Community College. The District also includes the Maricopa Skill Center, Southwest Skill Center, several satellite campuses and business/industry, technical and customized training institutes and serves more than 277,000 students annually. For more information: 480-731-8000 or www.maricopa.edu

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March 13, 2002