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Winners & Awards
2023 April Perennial: Sonder
Read the poetry, short stories, and essays from the winners of the Creativity Awards in the 2023 volume of Sonder.
CREATIVITY AWARDS 2023 WINNERS
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First Place - Carla Hardin “The Eastern Sector”
Second Place - Jessica M. DeMent “The Maroon Foyer”
Third Place - Dru Richman “Freedom”
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First Place - Melissa Laussman “A Day at the Rhine”
Second Place - Molly Jessup “Morning in Whidbey”
Third Place - Kristopher Cisneros “You Haven’t Lived Until…”
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First Place - Cora Stallings “A Dozen Days”
Second Place - Celina Miller-Pitt “Sing for Me”
Third Place - Jessica Brynn Cohen “Yes”
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First Place - Loel Izzard “The complete lack of consistency in cadence and meter is actually a complex metaphor for how I have no idea what I’m doing”
Second Place - Ensley Carey “girl & boy”
Third Place - Sophia Ramsey “Combat”
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First Place - Belicia Martinez “Guilt”
Second Place - Raleigh Rhodes “Surprised by Time”
Third Place - Tianna Galindo “What Lies Ahead”
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First Place - Danyelle Schofield “Saving You Up”
Second Place - Amia Dhadda “Liar”
Third Place - Jacqueline Causey “The Miracle of New Year’s Eve”
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First Place - Danielle Clark “Healing”
Second Place - Jessie Brauer “Gone”
Third Place - Ashleigh Tripp “Nothing But Yours”
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First Place - Jacob Durnan “In the Forest There Lived People”
Second Place - Jessica Clark “Millville”
Third Place - Briley Davies “I Call Bull”
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First Place - Liz Lemmon “Art and Disability: A Symbiotic Relationship of Innovation and Expression”
Second Place - Rachel Seay “Protection for Young Citizens: The Evolution of Texas’ Judicial System”
Third Place - Rory Dulock “Western Literature: Usage of Symbolism Toward a Common Theme”
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Adult Poetry
Alan Elliott “Where Wildflowers Grow”
Mary Davenport “The Six Senses of Motherhood”
Mary Morrison “if I could choose my broken”
Stephanie Pass “The Accidental Blind Date”
Debbie Rhodes “What Am I Missing”
High School Poetry
Maryam Anwar “Bee Stinger”
Kasey Rhodes “Making Pottery”
Riya Sajan “I Belong Here”
Shreya Venkatachalam “Yet Another Troubled Soul”
Yasmi Nunez “Era of Your Dreams”
High School Fiction
Reagan Cox “Say Goodbye (I don’t want to)”
NCTC Fiction
Casey Cloud “Bones”
Pip Chrustawka “Second Chance”
Cole Conley “A Moment, Noticed”
Cole Conley “Private Nights”
James A. Hunter “Biblical: A Dramatized Retelling of the Origin of Jesus Christ Superstar”
NCTC Poetry
Matthew Terry “Before the New Dawn”
NCTC Creative Non-Fiction
Aleeha Chaudhry “The Fight”
Kanoelani Frisella “The Missing Piece”
Julie Potter “Greenhouse”
NCTC Expository Non-Fiction
Alyssa Tidmore “Virtual Free Speech and the Degradation of Discourse”
Jessie Brauer “Capital Punishment vs. Life Without Parole in Texas”
Addison Smith “Distributive Justice and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Who Gets Treatment?”
Kaneolani Frisella “How Rosario, Argentina was Affected Throughout Changes of Power”
April Perennial 2022
Read the poetry, short stories, and essays from the winners of the Creative Writing Contest 2022 in the April Perennial.
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Honorable Mention: Chloe Stokes, "The Rocking Chair"
3rd Place: Samantha Owen, "His Book"
2nd Place: Alexia Blaschke, "It Was Just a Prank I Swear—"
1st Place: Mattison Townsend, "The Survival Challenge"
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Honorable Mention: Remi Jenkins, "Dreaming a Little Dream"
Honorable Mention: Abigail J Bartley, "Muse of Narcissism"
3rd Place: Chimara Okeke, "Consumption"
2nd Place: Danielle Clark, "Broken"
1st Place: Kallista Stamenov, "These Things are Serious, By the Way"
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Honorable Mention: Arabela Costulis, "As Daylight Dies"
Honorable Mention: Daniela Cantu, "The Doorbell"
3rd Place: Kerrigan Ferland, "Happy Birthday to Me"
2nd Place: Lena Nguyen, "Orange Factory Worker"
1st Place: Krystal Aguirre, "The Gears"
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Honorable Mention: Andrea de Freitas, "Moisturize"
Honorable Mention: Lynn Peters, "Dad/s Poem"
3rd Place: Molly Jessup, "Pages Left"
2nd Place: Mikayla Lagana, "Drained"
1st Place: Trent Juarez, "Recognition"
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Honorable Mention: Jessie Brauer, "The Aligning of Nova and Jet"
Honorable Mention: Jacob Steele, "Purgatory"
3rd Place: Noah Rana, "What If Tony Sacrificed More than We Know"
2nd Place: Danyelle Schofield, "the best today"
1st Place: Michael Shelton, "Not What They Seem"
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Honorable Mention: Skyler Layco, "The Past Present and Future"
3rd Place: Teagan Lindsey, "A key will always be a key."
2nd Place: Vivianne Smith, "Faded"
1st Place: Grace Curran, "Questions for an Eraser"
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3rd Place: Maryam Anwar, "My Mother's Magnolia"
2nd Place: Kate-Yeonjae Jeong, "an open letters to the bees"
1st Place: Cassidy Wong, "The Stars Were Enough"
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2nd Place: Jacquelyn Savannah Anderson, "Please Pay at Window"
1st Place: Wanizhah Zahra, "On the Broken Self"
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Honorable Mention: Aleeha Chaudhry, "IMF: No Strings Attached?"
3rd Place: Colton Dillard, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Hopes, Dreams, and Imagination"
2nd Place: Shirley McCullough, "Proliferated Addiction to Social Media and Its Detrimental Effects on the Younger Generation"
1st Place: Addison Smith, "How Social Media Allowed the Rise of QAnon"
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Honorable Mention: Carla Hardin, "Christmas Eve on Planet Earth"
3rd Place: Mason Marshall, "The Desire for Help"
2nd Place: Stephen C Dahlbo, "The Peanut Farm"
1st Place: Alissa Blalock, "The Fall"
Creative Writing Ceremony 2022
Thursday, April 28th at 6:00 PM.
Our featured author was Courtney Marie, a writer and artist based in Denton, Texas. They are the author of Don't Get Your Hopes Up (2018, Thoughtcrime Press) and Songs We Used to Dance To (2022, Goliad Media). Their work has appeared in Nat Brut, The Boiler, Thimble Literary magazine, and beyond. CM enjoys making weird & sentimental art with/for their community, exploring the world, and playing pinball. They live with three cats, cry all the time, and are forever writing letters & sending snail mail in a desperate attempt to connect with the outside world. They are the co-founder & director of the artist collective spiderweb salon.