Eight UC Davis undergraduate students have moved one step closer to being the next great American writer. On Feb. 10, the winners of the 27th annual Pamela Maus Contest in Creative Writing, which honors both fiction and poetry written by UC Davis undergraduates, were announced in a ceremony at Voorhies Hall.
This year, 36 students entered the fiction contest. Alex Harvey-Gurr, with Zuruck Bleiben, Bitte, and Joleen Long’s Had They Been Caught tied for first place. Haley Davis, with The Album, and Yia Lee’s A Ghost Story tied for second place.
Out of nine poetry entries, Corrie Jacobs, with “Sleepless,” and Ashleigh Cowan, “into the forest,” tied for first place. Ishelle Payer, “Last Love Letter,” placed second and Melissa Wong, “I Saw Lines,” placed third.
Senior English lecturer W. Jack Hicks judged the fiction entries and said he was impressed by the caliber of work submitted.
“There could have easily been eight winners in fiction and eight in poetry,” Hicks said. “I was impressed by the quality of imagination and the elegance on the page.”
Hicks added that because all the entries were so different, he preferred to choose multiple winners, rather than attempt to compare works that were vastly different.
Prizes included $250 for first-place winners, $150 for second place and $100 for third place.
– Robin Migdol
