By Elyssa Whaley/reporter

Sixteen students were honored for their abilities Sept. 12 at a South Campus reception unveiling the latest issue of Script, the campus art and literary journal. 

Taking top prizes in their respective categories were Brenna Norrell, poetry; Khawla Alhwail, art; and Tempie Dewar, essay.

Others whose works were accepted for publication were Danette Thrush and Claudia Zamora for essays,

Other poetry honorees were Kaelin Cook-Powell, Macus Gielow, Eric Martin, Emily Mitchell and Zamora.

Carole Day, Clayton Hawthorne, Kimberly Hogan, Janet Johnson, Pooran Lashini, Corey Lockridge and Avery Nowak joined Alhwail as the artists selected.

Students received certificates and $50 for each work published. The three category winners received an additional $50.

Lindsey Davis, South Campus English instructor and a Script co-editor, said students submitted 150 works over the 2011-12 fall and spring semesters. This summer, Davis and co-editors Iris Johnson and Rebekah Clinkscale devoted two weeks to finalize the published works.

Davis said students had to have been enrolled on South at the time of submission and were allowed to submit in all categories.

Students could submit up to three pieces in both poetry and art and one in the essay category.

Davis says standards for the publication are high. Each year, the editors submit Script to the National English Honor Society, which selects only one winner. Last year, however, Script was singled out for an honorable mention.

Dewar, whose winning essay was “Crime, Punishment and the Prince of Denmark: How the Spirit of Hamlet Haunts Dostoevsky’s Text,” is a home-schooled, dual-credit student who has just turned 18.

“We were so blown away by Tempie’s submission,” Davis said. “She writes with a clear sense and purpose.”

Dewar, asked what advice she could give to writers, said, “Read a lot, everything you can get your hands on, and ask questions.”

Davis described Norrell, who titled her winning poem “Paradox Shift (An Elegy),” as “one of those individuals who practices multiple art forms and emulates art.”

In addition to placing first in poetry, all of Norrell’s other submissions — two in poetry and one essay — were published in Script. 

Alhwail’s winning photograph, Life and its Simplicities, depicts Alhwail’s mother sitting on a step in her native Palestine, feeding a pigeon while the sun is setting, dawning golden rays of light.

“When we saw Khawla’s submission, we were struck by the emotionally honest photograph,” Davis said.