2024 Contest Winners 
​Theme: The Write Season
All Winners will be Published in our 2024 Anthology 

Pen & Paint Contest Part I
A Collaboration Among Artists

​POETRY:
Kenneth Lee for Discover the Land
Jessica Marie Baumgartner for Forgotten Home
Billie Holladay Skelley for Stepping Stone to Stumbling Block
John Marcum for Summer’s Lament
Donna Mork Reed for Birdhouse
PROSE:
Billie Holladay Skelley for Forest Bathing
Susan Gore Zahra for Panache
Mark Vago for Render Unto Caesar
Donna Mork Reed for Broken, Yet Beautiful
Jessica Marie Baumgartner for A Capella Memories

President’s Contest
Theme: ​Unique National Holidays

​Prose:​
First Place: R. G. Weismiller for Gene-Editing-R-Us
Second Place: Christine Anthony for Frozen
Third Place: Heather Hartmann for The Only Way Out
Flash:
​First Place: Laurie Alberswerth for The Great Ducky Debacle
Second Place: John Marcum for Roller Coaster Day
Third Place: Christine Anthony for Cheers
Drabble:​
First Place: Sherry Cerrano for Path to World Domination
Second Place: Marilyn O’Neill for Talk Like a Pirate Day
Third Place: Jessica Marie Baumgartner for Dad’s Making Hot Sauce Again

Poet Laureate Contest
Theme: Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds

First Place: Billie Holladay Skelley for Time for Change
Second Place: Carol Roberson for Urban Serengeti
Third Place: Susan Gore Zahra for One Step
Third Place: Mark Vago for I Swear It’s Not Too Late
Honorable Mention: Sherry Cerrano for Fathoms of Possibilities
Honorable Mention: Kenneth Lee for Mister Polyester
Honorable Mention: Carol Roberson for Second Chance
Honorable Mention: Sarah Richardson for After Giacometti
Honorable Mention: Carol Roberson for The Rose

March Contest 
Theme:  Warm Seasons

First Place: Diane How for Where the Other Begins
Second Place: Tonya Dorsey for The May Fly's Journey
Third Place: Thomas Klein for Untrained Intelligence
Honorable Mention: M. L. Stiehl for Waterwheel Memories
Honorable Mention: Jeffrey Czuchna for A Trip to the Beach
Honorable Mention: Cheri Remington for All You Need is Wuf

April Contest 
Theme: Cold Seasons

First Place: Bradley Watson for Kittens Purr
Second Place: Robert Walton for December Bee
Third Place: John Marcum for The Figure Skater
Honorable Mention: Susan Gore Zahra for A Tale for All Seasons
Honorable Mention: Kenneth Lee for What’s a Nutcracker
Honorable Mention: David Reed for A Night to Remember

March and April Poetry Contest ​

First Place: Heather Hartmann for Grandma’s Garlic Rolls
Second Place: Cheri Remington for Indelible
Third Place: Kenneth Lee for Chew Your Words Well
Honorable Mention: John Marcum for Seasons in the Sun
​Honorable Mention: Marilyn O’Neill for Attitude Adjustment
Honorable Mention:  Donna Mork Reed for Falling Leaves

May Contest 
Theme: ​Theme: Seasons of Life (childhood, young adult, marriage, becoming a parent, etc.)

First Place:  Heather Hartmann for Burn Them All
Second Place:  Heather Hartmann for The Path Home
Third Place: R. G. Weismiller for Surrogate
Honorable Mention: Diane How for Uncorked
Honorable Mention: Mark Vago for Back Under One Roof
Honorable Mention: Marilyn O'Neill for A Lesson in Bad Taste

June Contest 
Theme: The Holiday Season - Any Holiday

First Place: Ken Lee for Gnome, Sweet Gnome
Second Place: Sherry Copeland for Explosion on the River
Third Place: Marilyn O'Neill for Oh Come On, All Ye Faithful
Honorable Mention: Sherry Cerrano for The Night Before
Honorable Mention: Billie Holliaday Skelley for Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive
Honorable Mention: Donna Mork Reed for Perfect

May and June Poetry Contest ​
Themes: 

First Place: Bradley Bates for Settle Down
Second Place: Donna Mork Reed for Sad Christmas
Third Place: Donna Mork Reed for The Graves
Honorable Mention: Bradley Bates for Bum-Bump
Honorable Mention: Jessica Marie Baumgartner for Midwinter Magic for Imbloc

July Contest 
Theme: Sports Season - baseball, football, soccer, hunting, kids' sports, Olympics, etc.

First Place: Sherry Copeland for The Big Pay Out
Second Place: Heather Hartmann for Camp Life
Third Place: Kenneth Lee for Halloween Visitor
Honorable Mention: Kenneth Lee for Sammy's Dad Goes to War

August Prose and Poetry Contest 
Theme: Any Season

POETRY:
First Place: Bradley Bates for The Back of His Chair
Second Place: Jessica Marie Baumgartner for Unexpected Beachfront Property
Third Place: Donna Mork Reed for Look to Momma
Honorable Mention: Bradley Bates for Sax Man

PROSE:
First Place: R. G. Weismiller for A Cloak for the Manger
Second Place: Robert Cerrano for The Boys of Summer
Third Place: Cynthia Ann Miller for First Place Space
Honorable Mention: R. G. Weismiller for The Day Anna Left
Honorable Mention: Sherry Cerrano for One Good Thing
Honorable Mention: Laurie Alberswerth for Camp Crystallized

Pen & Paint Contest Part II
A Collaboration Among Artists

Beach: R. G. Weismiller for The Mystery of Gulf City
Horses: John Marcum for Wild and Free
Nature: Robert Walton for Ruisseau au Clair de Lune
Outside: Mark Vago for All Roads Cross in Time
Scene: Mark Vago for Looking Back, Doesn’t Mean Looking Down
Sitting Woman: Heather Hartmann for a moment’s peace
Snow: Stephanie Mueller for Wish Upon a Snowball
St. Charles: Donna Mork Reed for New Life: Day One
The Cat: Donna Mork Reed for A New Assignment
Whac-A-Mole: R. R. J. Sebacher for Imaginary Heroes

Fun Statistics from our 2024 Writing Contests

  • 31 different winners.
  • 87 individual winning pieces.
  • 19 individuals had more than one winning entry.
  • The most successful individual had 9 winning entries.