"Disney Secret Service" – 1st Place Winner, Scripts, Tampa Writers Alliance 17th Annual Writing Contest
(to be published in Wordsmith, TWA’s anthology)
Judge's Comments:
"1st Place:This script combines a clever concept with polished writing. The elements of drama work well here. There is a well-shaped structure of rising action, conflict, and climax. The text is both timely and timeless, reminding us of the contradictory demands placed upon us as we consider our need for security in a context of a commitment to personal freedoms. The author incorporates humor, insight, paranoia, and drama into a great Florida script."
Judge's Bio: Richard Mathews has been a literary editor and publisher for nearly four decades, starting as founding editor of Florida Quarterly at the University of Florida in 1967. He later became founding editor, from 1972-1982, of Konglomerati, an experimental letterpress literary magazine published in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was executive director of the Konglomerati Florida Foundation for Literature and the Book Arts, a nonprofit foundation that published limited edition, hand-bound letterpress books from 1971-1986. Since 1987 he has been editor of Tampa Review and director of the University of Tampa Press. The UT Press awards two annual literary prizes, the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry and the Pinter Review Prize for Drama. Each carries a $1,000 cash award, plus hardcover and paperback book publication.
“Out-Fished” – 1st Place Winner, Poetry
Tampa Writers Alliance 16th Annual Writing Contest
(published in Wordsmith, TWA’s anthology.)
OUT-FISHED
By Paul R. May
We high-tech anglers gather up our gear
Then boast and brag and offer up advice
Electric finders beep that fish are near
Line tension drags are turned and leads checked twice.
For hours every skill is put to use
First shiny, diving lures then rubber worms
Rigs snag and break, but we have more to lose
Soon dusk sets in and tree line shadows form.
Then like a silent witch a heron lands
And stalks along the banks to claim her spot
She slows and cocks her head before she stands
Then strikes and lifts the three-pound bass she’s caught.
We watch her fly away and say no words
Just silly humans out-fished by the birds.
Judge's Comments:
"First Place: If someone had told me I was going to choose a rhymed poem about bass fishing as the winner of this competition, I would never have believed it. But I was quite taken with the intelligence and gentle humor of this well-crafted piece with flawless meter and a strong ending. It doesn’t make me want to run out and buy a fishing pole, but it does make me wonder what this poet will accomplish in years to come. Congratulations!"
Judge's Bio: Silvia Curbelo is the author of two collections of poems, The Secret History of Water (Anhinga Press) and The Geography of Leaving (Silverfish Review Press). She has received poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Arts Council and the Cintas Foundation, and the Jessica Noble Maxwell Memorial Poetry Prize from American Poetry Review. Her poems have been published in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Gettysburg Review, Bloomsbury Review and other journals, and in more than two dozen anthologies, including The Body Electric and Norton’s Anthology of Latino Literature (forthcoming). A native of Cuba, Silvia lives in Tampa and is managing editor for Organica.
Winner - "Romantic Memories" Valentine's Essay Contest, WMTX, Tampa, Florida