ISSUED: 16 July 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Hans Fogle
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities has announced the winners of the 2024 West Virginia Fiction Competition.
Each year, the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence conducts close readings and reviews of the competition’s finalists selected by a panel of writers, editors, and creative writing instructors. This year’s writer-in-residence is West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, who will compose reviews for each finalist’s story.
In first place for a $500 prize is “Moving Day” by D.W. Gregory, Shepherdstown; second place for a $100 prize is “Connection” by Jane Ellen Freeman, Kearneysville; and third place for a $100 prize is “Outrunning Borderline” by Megan Darlene Milan, St. Albans.
The winner of the Judges Choice Award for Public School Writing is “Anybody” by Lucy Groves, Maysville, receiving a $100 prize.
Competition finalists include “The Creek” by Olivia “Ollie” Myers, Kearneysville; “Fishing Trip” by Alania Cole, Wellsburg; “The Mentor” by E. Randolph Underwood, Martinsburg; and “Blessed” by Julie Shehan, Harpers Ferry.
All finalists will be considered for publication in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers: Marc Harshman Volume XVII released next year.
The Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities will host an awards event to celebrate the competition winners on Thursday, September 26, at 7 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
The West Virginia Fiction Competition is supported by the West Virginia Library Commission, West Virginia Humanities Council, and Shepherd University Foundation.
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