And The Winner Is…

We here at The Journal have an important announcement to make, and that announcement has to do with the William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize. Our judge, Robin Hemley, had an exceptionally difficult time choosing the winner, seeing as there were so many fine essays. But in the end he selected Connie Vaughn’s essay, “Finding Oz,” as the champion.

And this is what Mr. Hemley has to say about “Finding Oz”:
“One of the things I admired about ‘Finding Oz’ was its technical control. I also admired the subtle turns in the piece and the way in which it combined research with a personal narrative, how it went from a public/personal disaster to a story about a father/daughter relationship. Really a strong piece!”

The Journal would like to congratulate Connie Vaughn on her wonderful essay. We would also like to congratulate the seven finalists, and two honorable mentions of this year’s creative nonfiction contest.

Honorable Mention:
Deborah Thompson, “The Half-life of Hope”
Ashley McCullough, “Zero Tolerance

Finalists:
Jean Braithwaite, “Time Slices: My Body Fat and Thin”
Joseph L. Ozment, “A Moment in Time”
Sunshine O’Donnell, “Placement”
Gwen Weerts, “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Elizabeth Browne, “Nonpersons”
Edgar Martinez Schulz, “Thanksgiving”
Andrew D. Cohen, “7G”

We would like to thank all of the writers who entered this year’s William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize, and encourage you to enter next year’s contest as well.

And just as a side note, May 1st is the deadline for The Journal’s Short Story Prize judged by the venerable Lee K. Abbott.

Welcome To The Journal Blog

We would like to introduce The Journal blog! That’s right The Journal has entered the blogosphere. And we know what you’re thinking: “Why is The Journal entering this crowded arena, and why should I read it?” These are very good questions. Let’s answer the latter first, and the former last. Read our fine blog, or don’t, it’s up to you, and you should do whatever makes you feel good. That, by the way, is what we are here for (in part), to make you feel good. We will also strive to bring you the latest literary goings-on, laughs, love and of course alliteration. We will try to do all this in a timely fashion. But, alas, we are small, and at times do not have the strength to espouse the aforementioned topics. Never fear, we will always return with a flourish, giving you, dear reader, something to salivate over.

The thought occurred to us that certain parts of the population would scoff at the idea of another blog. They would no doubt throw their hands up in disgust and lament that all we are doing is peering down upon our navel and picking out the lint. To those people we say that we have heard your argument before. Others have used it in describing creative nonfiction, especially the memoir. But, we like creative nonfiction, especially memoir. We hope to write one ourselves one day. It will be about the trials and tribulations of a small but gritty literary journal.

Speaking of creative nonfiction, we should soon know the winner of this year’s William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize, judged by Robin Hemley. We are on the edge of our seats, eager to receive Mr. Hemley’s response. When we here at The Journal blog know, you will know. So be patient, it will be worth the wait.

And speaking of contests in general, the deadline of May 1 for The Journal Short Story Prize is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t already, sit down at your computer, write a story, send it to us, we want to read it. If you win, we will give you money.

One more thing before we sign off. We would like to hear from you, dear reader, on what you would like a blog to do. As if love, laughs, and literary goings-on were not enough, we want to do more. So write to us, tell us your hopes, your dreams, your predictions on the weather. We want to hear from you.

¬ xo The Journal.