I recently had the pleasure of judging a monthly writing contest held by Saturday Writers for their annual anthology. Saturday Writers is a chapter of the Missouri Writer’s Guild—Missouri is also home to my alma mater, Lindenwood University—so when a fellow LU alumnus invited me to judge the July writer’s contest, I happily obliged.

Reading works with themes I don’t usually gravitate toward is always interesting. The July theme was Sports Season and could include mention of anything from traditional ball games and sports equipment, to hunting, racing, the Olympics, and more. I’m happy to say that the writers gave me a plethora of styles, plots, and genres that were a pleasure to read and in requested cases, critique.

I’ve read a lot of submissions as the editor for multiple publications, in past workshops, and during my time with the Lindenwood Review. Story quality is often a mixed bag, but the good ones always stick with me after the fact. The story I chose for first place in this contest has crossed my mind multiple times in the past two months. I’m taking this as a sure sign that I made the right choice! Having recently seen the names of the winning writers, I’d like to congratulate Sherry Copeland for taking first place with her short story, The Big Payout. Well done!

Additional congratulations go to:

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

I’m looking forward to reading the published anthology in the spring of next year, and I hope you’ll pick up a copy as well!