Midland College honors winners of the Rebecca T. Watson Creative Writing ContestJanuary 28, 2021

On Wednesday, January 27, the Midland College (MC) English department hosted the 
Rebecca T. Watson Creative Writing Contest Awards Celebration via Zoom video conferencing. Awards were presented in three categories—Essay, Poetry and Short Fiction.  Selected writings from the contest were read by students and contest coordinator MC English Professor 
Dr. William Christopher Brown.

Shaquila Sarapao won fist place in both the Essay and Poetry categories with her essay “An Immigrant’s Daughter” and her poem “Anatomy of the Human Body.”  Zayne Calley won first place in the Short Fiction category for “Cycle of the Mind.”  

Second-place winners included Bae’lee Muñoz for “The Darkness” (Essay), Halima Badru for “Misdemeanor” (Poetry), and Harley Swiney for “A Comedy to Some, A Tragedy to Others” (Short Fiction).

Third place went to Evelyn Martinez for “My Grandfather’s Encouragement Makes Me Feel Closer to My Heritage” (Essay), Luis Briceno for “This Time Last Year” (Poetry), and Logan Whiteman for “Black Ice” (Short Fiction).

Fourth place and honorable mention awards were given to Elizabeth Brown, Sara Brumley, 
Mariam Falana, Camila Justus, Lexi Pate and Desirae Tobar.

“We had 58 participants in this year’s contest,” Dr. Brown said.  “The judges were very impressed with the quality of the entries and commended all contestants on their efforts.”

Judges for the contest were Dr. Paulett Golden, English professor at American Military University (American Public University System); Dr. Katherine V. Wills, English professor, department director and campus poet at Indiana University Purdue University-Columbus; and Lisa del Rosso, writer and instructor at New York University.

“Thank you for the opportunity to read your works,” Dr. Golden said to the students at the conclusion of the ceremony.  “You are really talented writers; keep writing.”

MC began the creative writing contest in 1975, and in 2012, the contest was renamed in honor of retired MC English Professor Rebecca Watson.  Ms. Watson judged the first contest when she was an adjunct instructor, and then she guided the contest to maturity over many years of teaching creative writing classes and directing the contest.

Photo:  Shaquila Sarapao, first place winner for Essay and Poetry.  Photo Credit - Tonya Dawson