CU students earn creative writing honors

The Cameron University Department of Communication, English and Foreign Languages recently honored several Aggie students for their creative writing during the academic year.

Angel Montano, of Elgin, won the Leigh Holmes Prize for Creative Nonfiction for an essay titled "Red Feathers." Julian Ebacher, Cement, and Katie Gyring, Lawton, tied as runners-up for "On Don Quixote" and "This is Why I Don't Like Reading Sad Books: A Rant," respectively, with both receiving honorable mention.

Cameron English faculty members Dr. William Carney, Leah Chaffins, Dr. John Hodgson and Dr. John G. Morris judged submissions for the annual Holmes award.

Amelia Eden Lozano, Lawton, won the John G. Morris Poetry Prize with a poem titled "Dream of the Apocalypse." Jess Garoutte, Duncan, took second place with her poem, "Strawberries on a Field of Green," and Sierra McKinnon, Bedford, Texas, won third for "Let's Get This Degree." Yuki Araiguma - the pen name of Brice Dunn, Lawton - was judged first honorable mention for his poem, "Almost, Chere," and Ebacher received second honorable mention for "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan."

Dr. Seth Tyler Copeland, a Cameron English alumnus who is now a lecturer in English at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, served as the judge. As a Cameron student, Copeland won the contest in 2009 and 2010.

Both annual contests are open to all Cameron undergraduate students. Longtime faculty member Dr. Leigh Holmes established the Leigh Holmes Prize for Creative Nonfiction shortly before his retirement in 2003 to encourage Cameron students to write creative nonfiction well. Morris, a professor of English, established the John G. Morris Poetry Prize in 2006 to honor his mother, the late Marian Cary Miles Morris-Zepp.

"Red Feathers" and "Dream of the Apocalypse" will be published in "The Gold Mine," Cameron's literary arts magazine. In addition, program faculty nominated Montano's essay, Lozano's poem and "Last Flourish of a Corporate Assassin," a short story by Michael McEwen, Lawton, for the Associated Writers and Writing Program Intro series competition. Winners of that national competition will be published in three national literary journals.

PR#26-068