By Ashley Bradley/ne news editor
NE Campus named 16 budding writers as semifinalists in the English department’s annual competition.
Out of 199 entries, only the top 56 made it this far. The semifinalists are Samantha Smith, Rena Fielder, Donna Hunter, Dawn Capra, Montreal Spencer, Tiffany Prater, Ashley Bradley, Donya Anthony, Vanessa Berry, Jordan Smith, Dexter Griffith, Chelsey Luman, Shelly Williams, Justin Odean and Alisa Tatum.
Rebecca Balcarcel, English associate professor and event organizer, said the winners would be announced in mid-December.
“The checks will be in the mail before the semester is over,” she said.
The decisions are hard to make because different judges think different pieces are the best, she said. It’s also really difficult, she said, comparing the entries because they are all different genres — some poetry, some fiction and some non-fiction.
Anthony said she was excited about being a semifinalist. When she submitted her pieces, she said she was confident because she had written for a long time. She wrote plays with her sister as a child but took a break for a while to start acting. Currently, she works in the NE Campus writing center and said she wants to get back to creative writing.
“I always think of creative things and about how I need to write them down before I forget,” she said. “This is my first writing competition, and I feel honored just to be a semifinalist.”
This is also the first writing competition for Capra, who said she feels great to have advanced. She said the piece that was chosen was one she wrote in high school.
“I’m kind of surprised because I’ve been writing for a couple years since I wrote this and didn’t think it was that good,” she said. “I’m glad they think it’s good enough to be a semifinalist piece.”
Smith said she only entered the competition to receive extra credit in her creative writing class. She said the piece she entered was one from class.
“It’s about a woman who is going to her lover in the hospital because he’s been in a car accident,” she said. “I’d be damn excited if I won.”
The first place winner will receive $100, second place $75, third place $50 and fourth place $25.
Other semifinalists will also be chosen for publication alongside the winners in the next issue of the NE Campus literary journal, Under the Clock Tower.
For more information, e-mail Balcarcel at rebecca.balcarcel@tccd.edu.
