{"id":29901,"date":"2015-09-27T01:58:24","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T07:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=29901"},"modified":"2015-09-27T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T13:32:34","slug":"great-literary-works-you-may-never-get-to-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/great-literary-works-you-may-never-get-to-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Literary Works You May Never Get To Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OWC\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums recently announced the winners of the Utah Original Writing Competition, which recognizes works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a variety of forms for readers of all ages. Unfortunately, if the world really does end tonight, you’ll never get a chance to read them.<\/p>\n

Submissions to the competition, which began in 1958, must be original works and cannot be published or accepted for publication at the time of entry. Manuscripts are reviewed in a blind process by judges selected from outside of Utah.\u00a0Past winners have included former Utah Poets Laureate David Lee, Ken Brewer, and Katharine Coles, as well as current Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larsen. There is no entry fee for the competition, and it is open to all Utah residents.<\/p>\n

As one might expect, all of those awarded in the young adult category, judged by Connie Goldsmith, are writers and authors from Utah County where, apparently, there\u2019s something in the water. But there is also a fairly broad geographical range in this year\u2019s winners from Logan to St. George and from Paradise to Provo.<\/p>\n

While the book-length categories are reserved for writers who have not published a book in the category they\u2019ve entered, \u00a0the other categories\u2014poetry, short story and creative nonfiction\/essay\u2013are open to everyone. This year\u2019s finalists include some of the usual suspects\u2014e.g., Salt Lake-based Maximilian Werner and Natasha Saje (both in creative nonfiction\/essay)\u2013but there are also new writers which speaks well of one of the oldest state-run writing competitions designed, as it is, to encourage emerging writers while embracing those more established.<\/p>\n

Salt Laker Jenn Gibbs is this year\u2019s winner in short story, judged by Michigan-based author Jon Billman whose fiction has appeared in such magazines as Esquire, Zoetrope: All Story<\/em> and The Paris Review. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen asked what \u2018The Whiskeyjack\u2019 is about,\u201d reports Gibbs, referring to her first place story, \u201cI say \u2018birds, twins, and identity theft,\u2019 though truly I hope it\u2019s about something more.\u201d Several years ago, Gibbs\u2019 cousin was doing doctoral research on gray jays, aka \u201cwhiskeyjacks.\u201d \u201cImmediately, I saw a woman in the woods trying to do this work but not belonging there. I didn\u2019t know anything else about her, but a few months ago, the first line of the story came into my head and I realized Lindsey [the story\u2019s protagonist] was this woman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A doctoral candidate at the U of U and content specialist at the Utah Education Network, Gibbs values being in a place that nurtures such a vibrant arts community. \u201cI used to think writing was an isolating activity. It\u2019s true you go off on your own a lot to get it done, but now I find the deeper I go into this discipline, the more connected I feel\u2014to my community, to the world, to my own humanity. Case in point: not only did \u201cThe Whiskeyjack\u201d grow from a seed my cousin planted, but working on this story occasioned several conversations and experiential research at the University of Utah\u2019s Taft-Nicholson Center for Environmental Studies. Beyond the information I gained for the story, I\u2019m grateful for how these encounters have widened my world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although a published short fiction writer, she says that winning the short story category is \u201chumbling and inspiring. I know the work of many of the other writers who placed in or won their categories, and I\u2019m blown away to be in their company. It\u2019s also a boost for the courage: I\u2019m working on a story now that is far from coming together, and I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve reminded myself that this is where \u2018The Whiskeyjack\u2019 was a few months ago.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Just think, if the blood red supermoon doesn’t spell doom tonight, you may eventually see her work, and that of others on the following list, reviewed or published in 15 Bytes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2015 Utah Original Writing Competition Winners<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Category A: Novel, judged by Ernest Hebert<\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: The Salted Earth, <\/i>by Eric Robertson<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Place: The Lord, My Shepherd, <\/i>by Daniel Robertson<\/b> (Provo)<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Danger on Board, <\/i>by Anne Stark<\/b> (Paradise); Filet of Soul,<\/i> by Courtney Davis<\/b> (Provo)<\/p>\n

Category B: Biography\/Autobiography\/History, judged by Poe Ballantine<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: Dreams of My Comrades, <\/i>by Scott Zuckerman<\/b> (Park City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Place: Dear Little Fish, <\/i>by Melissa Bond<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: The Reluctant Boss,<\/i> by Hector Griffin<\/b> (Cottonwood Heights); Nine Lives of a Natural Redhead, <\/i>by Marcee Blackerby<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Category C: Book-length Collection of Stories, judged by Katherine Bahr<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: New Myth: Stories, <\/i>by Aaron Allen<\/b> (Orem)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Place: City of Saints: Stories of the Mormon Corridor, <\/i>by David Pace<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: The Man Who Destroyed the Universe,<\/i> by Gregory Deluca<\/b> (St. George)<\/span><\/p>\n

Category D: Young Adult Book, judged by Connie Goldsmith<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: The Dark Backward, <\/i>by McKelle George<\/b> (Lehi)<\/p>\n

Second Place: All My Fairy Godmothers, <\/i>by Katy Larson<\/b> (Springville)<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Rat Prince of Kusa, <\/i>by Elena Jube<\/b> (Provo); Better Than Dead,<\/i> by Jessica Guernsey<\/b> (Lindon)<\/span><\/p>\n

Category E: Poetry, judged by Ellen Bass<\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: \u201cWaiting,\u201d by Anne Vinsel<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/p>\n

Second Place: \u201cTen Pages of Poetry,\u201d by Ben Gunsberg<\/b> (Logan)<\/span><\/p>\n

Category F: Short Story, judged by Jon Billman<\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: \u201cThe Whiskeyjack,\u201d by Jenn Gibbs<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Place: \u201cEating Sushi in Mesquite,\u201d by Lynn Kilpatrick<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: \u201cLong Lost,\u201d by David Cawley<\/b> (Centerville)<\/p>\n

Category G: Narrative Nonfiction\/Personal Essay, judged by Rus Bradburd<\/b><\/p>\n

First Place: \u201cThe Other Amelia,\u201d by James Ure<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Place: \u201cMystery, Knowledge, and the Worsening Light of the Ethereal Mind,\u201d by Maximilian Werner <\/b>(Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: \u201cGuilt: Two Love Stories,\u201d by Natasha Saje<\/b> (Salt Lake City)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums recently announced the winners of the Utah Original Writing Competition, which recognizes works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a variety of forms for readers of all ages. Unfortunately, if the world really does end tonight, you’ll never get a chance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/OWC.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 01:22:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29901"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29906,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29901\/revisions\/29906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}