State writing Conference & Convention
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Keynote Speaker: Kevin Rabas, Kansas Poet Laureate
Workshops on fiction writing, journaling for writers, historical nonfiction, memoirs, personal essays, poetry, biography, and writing for middle graders and young adults Panel Discussion on songwriting -- a collaboration of musicians and poets Read-arounds and much more Schedule Speaker Information Length of Membership Awards Steve Laird, 2008-present, 10 years Cathy Callen, 2008-present, 10 years Vicki L. Julian, 2008-present, 10 years Barbara Cooper, 2008-present, 10 years Grace Bell, 2008-present, 10 years Marjorie L. Brown, 2008-present, 10 years Patricia Callahan Walkenhorst, 2003-present, 15 years Robert H. Demott, 2003-present, 15 years Conrad Jestmore, 2003-present, 15 years Lindsey Marie Gleue, 1998-present, 20 years Agnes Kazminski, 1998-present, 20 years Nancy Glenn, 1993-present, 25 years Mark W. Scheel, 1988-present, 30 years Betty L. Berney, 1983-present, 35 years Octogenarians Recognized Joan Breit Arlene Rains Graber Myrne Roe Margaret McGillivary Howard John Sanders Joann Williams |
2018 KAC Book Contest Winners
“It Looks Like a Million”. Judge: Dr. Kirsten Johnston
The Modern Bachateros
Julie A. Sellers, District 1
J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award. Judge: Thomas Fox Averill
Flight: A Novel of Beirut and the French Countryside
Jean Grant, District 2
Nelson Poetry Book Award. Judge: Jenny Browne
Acacia Road
Aaron Brown, District 6
Children’s Book Award. Judge: Phoebe North
Bird
Glendyn Buckley, District 1
Illustrator - Barbara Waterman-Peters, District 1
Martin Kansas History Book Award. Judge: Karen Kolavalli
A Cow for College and Other Stories of 1950s Farm Life
James Kenyon, District 7
Comments from Judges
“It Looks Like a Million” Book Award (Judge: Dr. Kirsten Johnson)
The Modern Bachateros by Julie A. Sellers is my selection for the It Looks like a Million Book Award. The cover displays a strong image of a young man resplendent w/a shining silver cross against his all-black jeans and T-shirt. His tennis shoes, an iridescent, saturated red, plays off the bright yellow frame which highlights the title of the book — definitely attracting the viewer’s attention. With the young man looking directly at the title and his cream guitar standing out from an obviously urban scene and 27 Interviews high-lighted in red — one knows that in reading this book, the reader will indeed, learn something they may not know about. The book is well formatted, with an itemized table of contents, indicating the interviews. The front matter informs the reader about the historical development of this unique type of music, its origins, influences and its American arrival. It is refreshing to see documentation supported with the author’s own photographs. The paper used in publication reproduces these photographs well in crisp detail and in good contrasting values. Appropriate credit is given to the supporting photographers. In the back of the volume is listed the dates of the interviews. This reviewer is impressed that the chapter notes indicate that the author has provided “dynamic” translations – rather than literal – of the song titles herself. Several of the interviews were conducted in Spanish and English. This section is followed by Works Cited and an index, so the reader may quickly locate an item of interest. This is a well-organized book, it feels good in the hands, which is something this graphic designer and bookmaker finds to be important.
J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award (Judge: Thomas Fox Averill)
Flight, by Jean Grant, is sensitive, layered, and intellectually and emotionally satisfying. In wonderfully textured detail, she tells the story of characters caught in wars: personal battles, inter-generational tensions, marital strife, urban terrorism, and remembrances of wars past. Set in Beirut and rural France, but also referencing Kansas and Canada, the novel asks questions about home: where is it, who is it, and how much does it have to do with the past as well as the present? All the characters have only a momentary and tenuous control of their fates and destinies: from a kidnapped boy in Beirut, to a daughter forced from Beirut to live in France for her own safety, to a mother constantly daring fate as she advances her photojournalism career. By the end, the characters make tentative peace with themselves and each other —through work, through love, through traditions, and through self-examination. Grant’s characters, her sense of place, her knowledge of cultures and politics, all enrich the reader’s sense of the difficult worlds of 1940s France, of 1970s Beirut, and finally, of our own complicated world. Flight is a fine novel, winning, and now award-winning, as well.
Nelson Poetry Book Award (Judge: Jennifer Browne)
Aaron Brown’s Acacia Road moves between the past and the present, and the known and the unknown, wandering the rooms of memory and the knowledge of the body. But Acacia Road also evokes real places, full of real lives and hard lessons, deeply felt and evocatively rendered. The narratives in this book resist easy certainty, and the images suggest how distance is both a measure of miles, and an important emotional register, as a cloud-like voice rises up to say, “pay attention / or you will / miss your destination.” And these poems do pay close attention. To language — “I knew how to sing a little.” To time — “then and only then could we share a kind of silence, the pause between one cup of tea and the next.” And, ultimately, to the questions that remain for all of us as we travel together: “Now, as the meat on my bones passes through death’s teeth, will you remember me?” One way I measure the impact of a book is in my desire to start over again when I am finished, and it was a deep pleasure to turn and return to the mysterious and familiar roads of these richly imagined poems.
Children’s Book Award (Judge: Phoebe North)
Bird by Glendyn Buckley is a sensitively written, delicately illustrated picture book. The story of two misfits — a girl and the titular Bird, neither of whom choose to speak — approaches the topic of trauma and friendship in a fundamentally optimistic and humane manner. Readers are first introduced to the nameless girl who does not speak, then plunged into the history of Bird, a blue parakeet that has been passed up by potential buyers at the local pet shop because of his ornery nature. Though his first owner is a hopeful and loving child, Bird stubbornly refuses to say a single word. When Bird’s given away to the child’s aunt, who verbally abuses the animal, his resolve to remain silent only hardens. But when he is surrendered to a children’s home, and encounters the girl who is as silent as he is, he throws in every trick in the book to get her to respond — including triumphantly speaking at last. Bird’s lively illustrations perfectly capture the charm of a parakeet while also underscoring their sometimes cantankerous, temperamental nature. The core story of a friendship between two unapproachable loners speaks to its intended audience without condescending. It’s gentle and human, rather than didactic, and would make for a wonderful addition to any child’s bookshelf.
Martin Kansas History Book Award (Judge: Karen Kolavalli)
James Kenyon’s memoir, A Cow for College, brings to life a time and place that may be familiar to many readers, but at the same time introduces stories of 1950s Kansas farm life to a broader audience. Speaking as young Jimmy, Kenyon skillfully and with great heart tells stories, both humorous and poignant, of being a farm boy—starting as a 3-year-old heading out on the tractor every day with his dad, baseball games at recess at his country school, raising a Hereford calf each year in 4-H, experiencing that first kiss, the heartbreak of losing a dog or cow, and many more.
A Cow for College adds to our understanding and appreciation of mid-20th century life in rural western Kansas. It is the winner of the 2018 Martin Kansas History Book Award.
“It Looks Like a Million”. Judge: Dr. Kirsten Johnston
The Modern Bachateros
Julie A. Sellers, District 1
J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award. Judge: Thomas Fox Averill
Flight: A Novel of Beirut and the French Countryside
Jean Grant, District 2
Nelson Poetry Book Award. Judge: Jenny Browne
Acacia Road
Aaron Brown, District 6
Children’s Book Award. Judge: Phoebe North
Bird
Glendyn Buckley, District 1
Illustrator - Barbara Waterman-Peters, District 1
Martin Kansas History Book Award. Judge: Karen Kolavalli
A Cow for College and Other Stories of 1950s Farm Life
James Kenyon, District 7
Comments from Judges
“It Looks Like a Million” Book Award (Judge: Dr. Kirsten Johnson)
The Modern Bachateros by Julie A. Sellers is my selection for the It Looks like a Million Book Award. The cover displays a strong image of a young man resplendent w/a shining silver cross against his all-black jeans and T-shirt. His tennis shoes, an iridescent, saturated red, plays off the bright yellow frame which highlights the title of the book — definitely attracting the viewer’s attention. With the young man looking directly at the title and his cream guitar standing out from an obviously urban scene and 27 Interviews high-lighted in red — one knows that in reading this book, the reader will indeed, learn something they may not know about. The book is well formatted, with an itemized table of contents, indicating the interviews. The front matter informs the reader about the historical development of this unique type of music, its origins, influences and its American arrival. It is refreshing to see documentation supported with the author’s own photographs. The paper used in publication reproduces these photographs well in crisp detail and in good contrasting values. Appropriate credit is given to the supporting photographers. In the back of the volume is listed the dates of the interviews. This reviewer is impressed that the chapter notes indicate that the author has provided “dynamic” translations – rather than literal – of the song titles herself. Several of the interviews were conducted in Spanish and English. This section is followed by Works Cited and an index, so the reader may quickly locate an item of interest. This is a well-organized book, it feels good in the hands, which is something this graphic designer and bookmaker finds to be important.
J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award (Judge: Thomas Fox Averill)
Flight, by Jean Grant, is sensitive, layered, and intellectually and emotionally satisfying. In wonderfully textured detail, she tells the story of characters caught in wars: personal battles, inter-generational tensions, marital strife, urban terrorism, and remembrances of wars past. Set in Beirut and rural France, but also referencing Kansas and Canada, the novel asks questions about home: where is it, who is it, and how much does it have to do with the past as well as the present? All the characters have only a momentary and tenuous control of their fates and destinies: from a kidnapped boy in Beirut, to a daughter forced from Beirut to live in France for her own safety, to a mother constantly daring fate as she advances her photojournalism career. By the end, the characters make tentative peace with themselves and each other —through work, through love, through traditions, and through self-examination. Grant’s characters, her sense of place, her knowledge of cultures and politics, all enrich the reader’s sense of the difficult worlds of 1940s France, of 1970s Beirut, and finally, of our own complicated world. Flight is a fine novel, winning, and now award-winning, as well.
Nelson Poetry Book Award (Judge: Jennifer Browne)
Aaron Brown’s Acacia Road moves between the past and the present, and the known and the unknown, wandering the rooms of memory and the knowledge of the body. But Acacia Road also evokes real places, full of real lives and hard lessons, deeply felt and evocatively rendered. The narratives in this book resist easy certainty, and the images suggest how distance is both a measure of miles, and an important emotional register, as a cloud-like voice rises up to say, “pay attention / or you will / miss your destination.” And these poems do pay close attention. To language — “I knew how to sing a little.” To time — “then and only then could we share a kind of silence, the pause between one cup of tea and the next.” And, ultimately, to the questions that remain for all of us as we travel together: “Now, as the meat on my bones passes through death’s teeth, will you remember me?” One way I measure the impact of a book is in my desire to start over again when I am finished, and it was a deep pleasure to turn and return to the mysterious and familiar roads of these richly imagined poems.
Children’s Book Award (Judge: Phoebe North)
Bird by Glendyn Buckley is a sensitively written, delicately illustrated picture book. The story of two misfits — a girl and the titular Bird, neither of whom choose to speak — approaches the topic of trauma and friendship in a fundamentally optimistic and humane manner. Readers are first introduced to the nameless girl who does not speak, then plunged into the history of Bird, a blue parakeet that has been passed up by potential buyers at the local pet shop because of his ornery nature. Though his first owner is a hopeful and loving child, Bird stubbornly refuses to say a single word. When Bird’s given away to the child’s aunt, who verbally abuses the animal, his resolve to remain silent only hardens. But when he is surrendered to a children’s home, and encounters the girl who is as silent as he is, he throws in every trick in the book to get her to respond — including triumphantly speaking at last. Bird’s lively illustrations perfectly capture the charm of a parakeet while also underscoring their sometimes cantankerous, temperamental nature. The core story of a friendship between two unapproachable loners speaks to its intended audience without condescending. It’s gentle and human, rather than didactic, and would make for a wonderful addition to any child’s bookshelf.
Martin Kansas History Book Award (Judge: Karen Kolavalli)
James Kenyon’s memoir, A Cow for College, brings to life a time and place that may be familiar to many readers, but at the same time introduces stories of 1950s Kansas farm life to a broader audience. Speaking as young Jimmy, Kenyon skillfully and with great heart tells stories, both humorous and poignant, of being a farm boy—starting as a 3-year-old heading out on the tractor every day with his dad, baseball games at recess at his country school, raising a Hereford calf each year in 4-H, experiencing that first kiss, the heartbreak of losing a dog or cow, and many more.
A Cow for College adds to our understanding and appreciation of mid-20th century life in rural western Kansas. It is the winner of the 2018 Martin Kansas History Book Award.
Karnowski Youth Poetry Contest - 2018 Results
First Place: Amelia Sinsel, District 5, Augusta, Kansas
Title: Possibilities
Second Place: Fabiola Aguilar, District 5, Wichita, Kansas
Title: She will be a Maid
Third Place: Lily Gray, District 6, Sterling, Kansas
Title: Summer Fun
First Place: Amelia Sinsel, District 5, Augusta, Kansas
Title: Possibilities
Second Place: Fabiola Aguilar, District 5, Wichita, Kansas
Title: She will be a Maid
Third Place: Lily Gray, District 6, Sterling, Kansas
Title: Summer Fun
Click on the thumbnail below to view the whole photo.
2018 KAC Prose Contest Winners
Playwriting (8 entries). Judge: Dr. Phil Speary 1. Choices, Gretchen Eick - 5 2. The Sound and the Fury, Ronda Miller-2 3. Closing Time, Brian Daldorph -2 HM Pill, Roy Stucky -6 HM Just the Two of Us? Ronda Miller - 2 Humor (16 entries). Judge: Robert Getz 1. Oh! Henry? Annabelle Corrick, 1 2. Baking with the Lord, Caroline Hall, 2 3. Winner! Winner! Chili Dinner!, Mary-Lane Kamberg NM HM. Unthinking People, Patricia Bonine, 1 HM. Helpful Technology, Patricia Bonine, 1 HM. The Last Laugh, Ronda Miller, 2 Stories Written for Teenagers (9 entries). Judge: Maggie Spratt 1. “Family” Dinner, Jolene Haas, 3 2. What I Am Telling, What I Was Told, Brian Daldorph, 2 3. Foiled by a Mouse, Annabelle Corrick, 1 HM. Tabula Rasa, Roy Stucky, 6 HM. When Saturday Falls on Thursday, Linda Ahrens-Brower, 7 Short Story (19 entries). Judge: Kerry Jones 1. Sundowning, Brian Daldorph, 2 2. All in the Story, Kenneth Neel Holler, 5 3. The Fiftieth, Jack D. Kline, 2 HM. Learning to Swim, Linda Ahrens-Brower, 7 HM. Rose, Kenneth Neel Holler, 5 Flash Fiction (25 entries). Judge: Suzanne Tobias 1. Queen of the Night, Sylvia Forbes, 2 2. The White Refrigerator, Roy Stucky, 6 3. The Black Snake, Brian Daldorph, 2 HM. Call Me Rex, Gloria Zachgo, 5 HM. The Corner, Jack D. Kline, 2 Memoir or Inspirational (37 entries). Judge: Shirley Chalker Wells 1. Have Wheels Will Travel, Tracy Million Simmons, 2 2. First Love, Michael D. Graves, 2 3. Tales from the Swamp, Sylvia Forbes, 2 HM. Davy Jones Is Dead, Jack D. Kline, 2 HM. A Letter to Myself at the End of Summer, Julie A. Sellers, 1 Theme (17 entries). Judge: Laura Kelly 1. Ocean Ghosts, Roy Stucky, 6 2. Small Town Teacher, Patricia Bonine, 1 3. After, Gretchen Eick, 5 HM. Mom Blazed Trails With Words of Wisdom, Barbara Brady, 1 HM. Blaze a Trail for Others to Follow, Marsha Henry Goff, 2 |
2018 KAC Poetry Contest Winners
Category 1: Theme (32 entries) Judge: Marlys Cervantes 1 Cluny, Arlice W. Davenport NM 2 Orange, Blue, Arlice W. Davenport NM 3 Ars Poetica, Ruth Maus, 1 HM Kansas Tapestry, Marilyn S. Johnson, 3 HM In the Canyons of the Anasazi, Kelly W. Johnston, 5 Category 2: Classic (31 entries) Judge: HB Berlow 1 Sonnenizio on a Line from Berryman’s Sonnet 25, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 2 In Search of a Word, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 3 Mask to Veil, Roy Stucky, 6 HM Gray, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 HM Dissolution, Pat Beckemeyer, 5 Category 3: Free Verse (70 entries) Judge: Nancy Hamilton Sturm 1 Instant with Compassion’s Eye, Duane Johnson, 1 2 Tightening the Seam, Duane Johnson, 1 3 Learning to Swim, Linda Ahrens-Brower, 7 HM mengele anti-elegy, Tyler Robert Sheldon, 2 HM Before We Part, Christine Marquardt, 1 HM A Glass to Grace, Duane Johnson, 1 HM elegy for our father, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 HM A Paper Clip, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 Category 4: Narrative Verse (48 entries) Judge: Dr. Alice Bendinelli 1 Silos, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 2 Cat Devouring a Bird, Pablo Picasso, 1939, Kristine A. Polansky, 4 3 Horizon Line, Roy Stucky, 6 HM Dry, Roy Stucky, 6 Category 5: Whimsy (38 entries) Judge: Marlys Cervantes 1 Falliteration, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 2 The New Newspeak, James Knoop, 2 3 A Poem for Stan Lee in Two Forms, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 HM Me, Myself, and I, Ronda Miller, 2 HM A Rhyme of Birds of Prey/Pray, Dan E. Close, 5 HM Firefly, Duane Johnson, 1 Category 6: Japanese Form (38 entries) Judge: Roxy Callison 1 haiku does not use titles, Nancy Julien Kopp, 4 2 chains of lightning flash, Diane R. Palka, 2 3 hummingbird, Diane R. Palka, 2 HM #2—Kansas, Shannon Smith, 6 HM haiku, Brian Daldorph, 2 Category 7: Song Lyric (14 entries) Judge: Kelley Alexander 1 Small Man Under the Sun, Roy Stucky, 6 2 I Want to be Closer to You, Bill Bush, 5 3 Suitcase of Dreams, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 HM Sisyphus Falls, Taylor Stucky, 6 HM Kingdom of One, Roy Stucky, 6 Category 8: Spoken Word (11 entries) Judge: Matt Spezia 1 Advice for Girls, Tracy Million Simmons, 2 2 My Daughter the English Teacher, Duane Johnson, 1 3 The Physics of Fly Fishing, Olive L. Sullivan, 3 HM Blackberry, Roy Beckemeyer, 5 |
2018 Kansas Authors Club Youth Contest Results
Fiction: Grades 1-2
1st Place, The Boy and the Wolf - Adiva Mittal, Wichita
2nd Place, The Lion and the Tiger - Harper Lynne Falls, Olathe
Fiction: Grades 3-4
1st Place, An Unusual Friendship - Arielle Li , Overland Park
2nd Place, The Life of Cole S. Henkel - Garrett Li, Overland Park
3rd Place, Camp Stargazer - Riley Saugstad, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, A Misunderstood Monster - Maya Yu-ya Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Friendship on Ice - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Lost in the Library - Piper Van Dusen, Wamego
Fiction: Grades 5-6
1st Place, Love Under Depression - Nethmi Hewawitharana, McPherson
2nd Place, An Unusual Friendship - Aubrey Martin, Towanda
3rd Place, Seth’s Adventures Around the Globe - Rahul Madhavan, Wichita
Honorable Mention, The Letter - Audrey Rose Malaby, McPherson
Honorable Mention, The Labyrinth - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
Fiction: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Swarmed - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, Your Destiny - Jocelyn Lee Goodwin, Neodesha
3rd Place, A Fictional Account of Aaron Douglas’s Teachings - Hope Oswald, Topeka
Honorable Mention, The Pig with the Music - Sophia Elizabeth Glanville, Cottonwood Falls
Honorable Mention, A Girl That Found a Dog - Jordan Vanderhoof, McPherson
Fiction: Grades 9-12
1st Place, Stalker - Hannah Grey, Olathe
2nd Place, One Last Moment with Dad - Debra Kay Sparks, Lyon County
3rd Place, The Whale - Southern Bell Rochelle Hall, Reading
Honorable Mention, Amy and Franks Excellent Adventure - Kylee Nikole Sull, Americus
Honorable Mention, The Field of Stones - Melissa C. Lofland, Wichita
Non-Fiction: Grades 3-4
1st Place, Rabbits - Piper Van Dusen, Wamego
2nd Place, Giving Is Better Than Getting - Nandini Desai, Overland Park
3rd Place, The Rocket - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, The Planet Uranus - Arielle Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, How to Throw a Fastball and a Change-Up - Garrett Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, I’m Not Running for President! - Cammie Peng, Overland Park
Non-Fiction: Grades 5-6
1st Place, To Help Children in Need - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
2nd Place, War Machines for the Air and Sea - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
3rd Place, The Last Serve - Kelby Lee Boughfman, McPherson
Honorable Mention, My Life Story - Hope Buckman, South Hutchinson
Non-Fiction: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Wolves - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, H-1B Visa Program is Beneficial - Tina Yu-tian Li, Overland Park
3rd Place, Viola and the Bobcat - Magnolia Foster, Hutchinson
Non-Fiction: Grades 9-12
1st Place, Fringe-tastic Festivities - Ashley Skylar Kortkamp, Wichita
2nd Place, Unique Personality - Vasuma Sailatha Chaparala, Wichita
3rd Place, George Eastman: Photography Through the Ages - Ashley Skylar Kortkamp, Wichita
Honorable Mention, Nonfiction Narrative “My Past” - Shalom Byukusenge, Wichita
Poetry: Grades 1-2
1st Place, At Home in Winter - Tanvi Desai, Overland Park
2nd Place, Mother You Rock - Rachel Caroline Rohrback, Olathe
Poetry: Grades 3-4
1st Place, Animals - Alexis Richter, Circleville
*the 2nd place award was withdrawn after the convention
3rd Place, Volcanoes - Alyssa Jane Mullins, Netawaka
Honorable Mention, Magic Garden - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Red - Arielle Li, Overland Park
Poetry: Grades 5-6
1st Place, Luminous Rain - Nova Laughlin, South Hutchinson
2nd Place, Pursuing the Heart - Nova Laughlin, South Hutchinson
3rd Place, Dark Times Are Here - Ava Elise Eeg, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Golden Sword - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
Honorable Mention, The Way of the Land - Rahul Madhavan, Wichita
Poetry: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Possibilities - Amelia Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, My Yard - Alexandra Poling, Topeka
3rd Place, Two Score and Fourteen: A collection of haikus based on the “I Have a Dream” speech - Victoria Wagner, Topeka
Honorable Mention, Am I Good Enough? - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
Honorable Mention, The Android - Victoria Wagner, Topeka
Honorable Mention, The Spiral - Hope Oswald, Topeka
Poetry: Grades 9-12
1st Place, The Firework People - Sophie Leah Solomon, Wichita
2nd Place, The Surface of Me - Grace Olivia Timmons, Overland Park
3rd Place, He Who Walks Upon The Broken Plain - Niklas Quade Erwin, Wichita
Honorable Mention, Mountains - Grace Syverson, Olathe
Honorable Mention, For Sport: A Haiku - Mary Ramona Hudak, Overland Park
2018 Bajaj Youth Writers of the Year
(tie)
Morgan Sinsel
and
Nithish Varun Aravinthan
JUDGES for Youth Contests
Roy J. Beckemeyer Poetry Grades 7-8, 9-12
Roy Beckemeyer and his wife, Pat, live in Wichita, Kansas. His poems have appeared in half a dozen anthologies as well as in a variety of print and on-line journals including Beecher’s Magazine, The Bluest Aye, Chiron Review, Coal City Review, Dappled Things, Flint Hills Review, Fungi, I-70 Review, Kansas City Voices, The Light Ekphrastic, The Midwest Quarterly, Mikrokosmos, Mockingheart Review, The North Dakota Quarterly, Pif, River City Poetry, The Syzygy Poetry Review, Thorny Locust, Tittynope 'Zine, and Zingara. His first book of poetry, Music I Once Could Dance To (Coal City Press, Lawrence, KS, 2014) was selected as a Kansas Notable Book. Two poems from that book were Pushcart Prize nominees. He was co-editor with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate Emerita, of Kansas Time+Place: An Anthology of Heartland Poetry (Little Balkans Press, Pittsburg, Kansas, 2017). His chapbook of ekphrastic poems, Amanuensis Angel, was recently published by Spartan Press (Kansas City, MO, 2018). He was President of the Kansas Authors Club from 2016-2017 and was KAC Poet of the Year in 2013, and 2015-2017. He won the Kansas Voices Poetry Award in 2016.
Jolene Haas Fiction Grades 3-4
Jolene Haas grew up in Southeast Kansas listening to the many stories of her extended family members. Some stories were true, but most were creatively told with twists and turns in the events, depending on who was telling the story. As a young girl, she began writing her own stories. She continues to love to read and to write middle grade and young adult fiction. Jolene has taught students in PreK-eighth grade for twenty-five years. She has served Kansas Authors' Club as the 2017 Youth Writing Contest Manager and as Publicity Chair. She is a member of Kansas Author's Club and Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Deborah Ludwig Non-Fiction Grades 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12
Deborah Ludwig serves as the Dean of Library Services for Fort Hays State University. She has been an academic, public and school librarian, technology director, and a secondary language arts teacher. Ms. Ludwig has a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in Library Science. She grew up in St. Francis, Kansas.
Anne McWhite Fiction Grades 1-2
Anne was born and raised in Marysville, Kansas, and moved to Colorado in 1969. She finished college in Denver and then worked as a nurse at P/SL from 1975 to her retirement in 2014. At 68 years old, she enjoys attending writing book club, paddleboarding, astronomy, gardening, reading, climbing in the mountains with her son Joe, baking, and just being with other retired friends keeping friendships open.
Ronda Miller Poetry Grades 1-2, 5-6
Ronda Miller is a Life Coach and Poet who works with clients who have lost someone to homicide. She is a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company; a Certified Life Coach with IPEC (Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaching); a University of Kansas graduate; Lawrence resident; and mother to son, Scott, and daughter, Apollonia. Miller created poetic forms loku and ukol. She will be a presenter at the Transformative Language Arts Conference at Goddard University in Vermont, October 2018. Miller is the state president (2018-19) of Kansas Authors Club (kansasauthors.org) and former vice president, poetry contest manager, convention host, and district president for the club. Miller gives presentations on grief, “Writing Your Trauma Without too Much Drama,” and end of life issues, “Talking to Crickets.”
Miller has published three books of poetry, Going Home: Poems from My Life, MoonStain (Meadowlark 2015), and WaterSigns (Meadowlark 2017). Her poems can be found in numerous anthologies, transformed into art, and at The Smithsonian Art Institute Archives.
When Miller isn’t coaching clients, volunteering time to Kansas authors, or writing poetry, she is busy learning life skills from children with special needs. She enjoys wandering the high plateau of NW Kansas where the Arikaree Breaks whisper late into the sunset and scream the arrival of blizzards and thunderstorms. www.meadowlark-books.com/p/ronda-miller.html
Ray Racobs Fiction Grades 7-8, 9-12
Ray “Griz” Racobs has written four YA books about Oro, The Incredible Dog. Catch the adventure by checking into his website grizzlysbooks.com
Griz spent twenty-seven years taking care of Girl Scout youth camps and has been a K-12 substitute teacher since 1999 in rural school districts. His favorite grades are 5th and up.
Diane Wahto Fiction Grades 5-6
Non-Fiction Grades 5-6
Poetry Grades 3-4
After her three sons left for college, and after nine years of teaching high school journalism at Winfield High School, Diane Wahto entered the Wichita State University MFA program in 1983 and started writing poetry. She taught English Composition at Butler Community College from 1985 to 2009. She has co-edited two editions of the anthology, 365 Poems. Her book of poetry, The Sad Joy of Leaving, published by Blue Cedar Press, will come out in the fall of 2018. Her blog may be found at Poet of a Certain Age. Diane is the president of Kansas Authors Club, District 5, and is the Awards Chair for the state Kansas Authors Club. She and her husband Patrick Roche live in Wichita, Kansas, with their dog Annie, a waif she found running loose on the Kansas Turnpike. poetofacertainage.wordpress.com/
Fiction: Grades 1-2
1st Place, The Boy and the Wolf - Adiva Mittal, Wichita
2nd Place, The Lion and the Tiger - Harper Lynne Falls, Olathe
Fiction: Grades 3-4
1st Place, An Unusual Friendship - Arielle Li , Overland Park
2nd Place, The Life of Cole S. Henkel - Garrett Li, Overland Park
3rd Place, Camp Stargazer - Riley Saugstad, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, A Misunderstood Monster - Maya Yu-ya Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Friendship on Ice - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Lost in the Library - Piper Van Dusen, Wamego
Fiction: Grades 5-6
1st Place, Love Under Depression - Nethmi Hewawitharana, McPherson
2nd Place, An Unusual Friendship - Aubrey Martin, Towanda
3rd Place, Seth’s Adventures Around the Globe - Rahul Madhavan, Wichita
Honorable Mention, The Letter - Audrey Rose Malaby, McPherson
Honorable Mention, The Labyrinth - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
Fiction: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Swarmed - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, Your Destiny - Jocelyn Lee Goodwin, Neodesha
3rd Place, A Fictional Account of Aaron Douglas’s Teachings - Hope Oswald, Topeka
Honorable Mention, The Pig with the Music - Sophia Elizabeth Glanville, Cottonwood Falls
Honorable Mention, A Girl That Found a Dog - Jordan Vanderhoof, McPherson
Fiction: Grades 9-12
1st Place, Stalker - Hannah Grey, Olathe
2nd Place, One Last Moment with Dad - Debra Kay Sparks, Lyon County
3rd Place, The Whale - Southern Bell Rochelle Hall, Reading
Honorable Mention, Amy and Franks Excellent Adventure - Kylee Nikole Sull, Americus
Honorable Mention, The Field of Stones - Melissa C. Lofland, Wichita
Non-Fiction: Grades 3-4
1st Place, Rabbits - Piper Van Dusen, Wamego
2nd Place, Giving Is Better Than Getting - Nandini Desai, Overland Park
3rd Place, The Rocket - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, The Planet Uranus - Arielle Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, How to Throw a Fastball and a Change-Up - Garrett Li, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, I’m Not Running for President! - Cammie Peng, Overland Park
Non-Fiction: Grades 5-6
1st Place, To Help Children in Need - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
2nd Place, War Machines for the Air and Sea - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
3rd Place, The Last Serve - Kelby Lee Boughfman, McPherson
Honorable Mention, My Life Story - Hope Buckman, South Hutchinson
Non-Fiction: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Wolves - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, H-1B Visa Program is Beneficial - Tina Yu-tian Li, Overland Park
3rd Place, Viola and the Bobcat - Magnolia Foster, Hutchinson
Non-Fiction: Grades 9-12
1st Place, Fringe-tastic Festivities - Ashley Skylar Kortkamp, Wichita
2nd Place, Unique Personality - Vasuma Sailatha Chaparala, Wichita
3rd Place, George Eastman: Photography Through the Ages - Ashley Skylar Kortkamp, Wichita
Honorable Mention, Nonfiction Narrative “My Past” - Shalom Byukusenge, Wichita
Poetry: Grades 1-2
1st Place, At Home in Winter - Tanvi Desai, Overland Park
2nd Place, Mother You Rock - Rachel Caroline Rohrback, Olathe
Poetry: Grades 3-4
1st Place, Animals - Alexis Richter, Circleville
*the 2nd place award was withdrawn after the convention
3rd Place, Volcanoes - Alyssa Jane Mullins, Netawaka
Honorable Mention, Magic Garden - Grace Wang, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Red - Arielle Li, Overland Park
Poetry: Grades 5-6
1st Place, Luminous Rain - Nova Laughlin, South Hutchinson
2nd Place, Pursuing the Heart - Nova Laughlin, South Hutchinson
3rd Place, Dark Times Are Here - Ava Elise Eeg, Overland Park
Honorable Mention, Golden Sword - Nithish Varun Aravinthan, Wichita
Honorable Mention, The Way of the Land - Rahul Madhavan, Wichita
Poetry: Grades 7-8
1st Place, Possibilities - Amelia Sinsel, Augusta
2nd Place, My Yard - Alexandra Poling, Topeka
3rd Place, Two Score and Fourteen: A collection of haikus based on the “I Have a Dream” speech - Victoria Wagner, Topeka
Honorable Mention, Am I Good Enough? - Morgan Sinsel, Augusta
Honorable Mention, The Android - Victoria Wagner, Topeka
Honorable Mention, The Spiral - Hope Oswald, Topeka
Poetry: Grades 9-12
1st Place, The Firework People - Sophie Leah Solomon, Wichita
2nd Place, The Surface of Me - Grace Olivia Timmons, Overland Park
3rd Place, He Who Walks Upon The Broken Plain - Niklas Quade Erwin, Wichita
Honorable Mention, Mountains - Grace Syverson, Olathe
Honorable Mention, For Sport: A Haiku - Mary Ramona Hudak, Overland Park
2018 Bajaj Youth Writers of the Year
(tie)
Morgan Sinsel
and
Nithish Varun Aravinthan
JUDGES for Youth Contests
Roy J. Beckemeyer Poetry Grades 7-8, 9-12
Roy Beckemeyer and his wife, Pat, live in Wichita, Kansas. His poems have appeared in half a dozen anthologies as well as in a variety of print and on-line journals including Beecher’s Magazine, The Bluest Aye, Chiron Review, Coal City Review, Dappled Things, Flint Hills Review, Fungi, I-70 Review, Kansas City Voices, The Light Ekphrastic, The Midwest Quarterly, Mikrokosmos, Mockingheart Review, The North Dakota Quarterly, Pif, River City Poetry, The Syzygy Poetry Review, Thorny Locust, Tittynope 'Zine, and Zingara. His first book of poetry, Music I Once Could Dance To (Coal City Press, Lawrence, KS, 2014) was selected as a Kansas Notable Book. Two poems from that book were Pushcart Prize nominees. He was co-editor with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate Emerita, of Kansas Time+Place: An Anthology of Heartland Poetry (Little Balkans Press, Pittsburg, Kansas, 2017). His chapbook of ekphrastic poems, Amanuensis Angel, was recently published by Spartan Press (Kansas City, MO, 2018). He was President of the Kansas Authors Club from 2016-2017 and was KAC Poet of the Year in 2013, and 2015-2017. He won the Kansas Voices Poetry Award in 2016.
Jolene Haas Fiction Grades 3-4
Jolene Haas grew up in Southeast Kansas listening to the many stories of her extended family members. Some stories were true, but most were creatively told with twists and turns in the events, depending on who was telling the story. As a young girl, she began writing her own stories. She continues to love to read and to write middle grade and young adult fiction. Jolene has taught students in PreK-eighth grade for twenty-five years. She has served Kansas Authors' Club as the 2017 Youth Writing Contest Manager and as Publicity Chair. She is a member of Kansas Author's Club and Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Deborah Ludwig Non-Fiction Grades 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12
Deborah Ludwig serves as the Dean of Library Services for Fort Hays State University. She has been an academic, public and school librarian, technology director, and a secondary language arts teacher. Ms. Ludwig has a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in Library Science. She grew up in St. Francis, Kansas.
Anne McWhite Fiction Grades 1-2
Anne was born and raised in Marysville, Kansas, and moved to Colorado in 1969. She finished college in Denver and then worked as a nurse at P/SL from 1975 to her retirement in 2014. At 68 years old, she enjoys attending writing book club, paddleboarding, astronomy, gardening, reading, climbing in the mountains with her son Joe, baking, and just being with other retired friends keeping friendships open.
Ronda Miller Poetry Grades 1-2, 5-6
Ronda Miller is a Life Coach and Poet who works with clients who have lost someone to homicide. She is a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company; a Certified Life Coach with IPEC (Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaching); a University of Kansas graduate; Lawrence resident; and mother to son, Scott, and daughter, Apollonia. Miller created poetic forms loku and ukol. She will be a presenter at the Transformative Language Arts Conference at Goddard University in Vermont, October 2018. Miller is the state president (2018-19) of Kansas Authors Club (kansasauthors.org) and former vice president, poetry contest manager, convention host, and district president for the club. Miller gives presentations on grief, “Writing Your Trauma Without too Much Drama,” and end of life issues, “Talking to Crickets.”
Miller has published three books of poetry, Going Home: Poems from My Life, MoonStain (Meadowlark 2015), and WaterSigns (Meadowlark 2017). Her poems can be found in numerous anthologies, transformed into art, and at The Smithsonian Art Institute Archives.
When Miller isn’t coaching clients, volunteering time to Kansas authors, or writing poetry, she is busy learning life skills from children with special needs. She enjoys wandering the high plateau of NW Kansas where the Arikaree Breaks whisper late into the sunset and scream the arrival of blizzards and thunderstorms. www.meadowlark-books.com/p/ronda-miller.html
Ray Racobs Fiction Grades 7-8, 9-12
Ray “Griz” Racobs has written four YA books about Oro, The Incredible Dog. Catch the adventure by checking into his website grizzlysbooks.com
Griz spent twenty-seven years taking care of Girl Scout youth camps and has been a K-12 substitute teacher since 1999 in rural school districts. His favorite grades are 5th and up.
Diane Wahto Fiction Grades 5-6
Non-Fiction Grades 5-6
Poetry Grades 3-4
After her three sons left for college, and after nine years of teaching high school journalism at Winfield High School, Diane Wahto entered the Wichita State University MFA program in 1983 and started writing poetry. She taught English Composition at Butler Community College from 1985 to 2009. She has co-edited two editions of the anthology, 365 Poems. Her book of poetry, The Sad Joy of Leaving, published by Blue Cedar Press, will come out in the fall of 2018. Her blog may be found at Poet of a Certain Age. Diane is the president of Kansas Authors Club, District 5, and is the Awards Chair for the state Kansas Authors Club. She and her husband Patrick Roche live in Wichita, Kansas, with their dog Annie, a waif she found running loose on the Kansas Turnpike. poetofacertainage.wordpress.com/