Last Thursday, April 10th , Rowan students and faculty gathered at Barnes and Nobel to attend the 2014 Literary Awards. The competition required students who wanted to participate to submit a short story, a collection of poetry and/or a creative nonfiction piece. Students from all majors were encouraged to submit.
Denise Gess was a teacher, an author, and a professor at Rowan University. The first award that was given out was the Edward Czwartacki Award in Fiction which was judged by Professor Lisa Jahn- Clough. Edward was a creative writing student at Rowan University in the 1980s then called Glassboro State College. This award was created in 1985 with donations from his loved ones after his untimely passing trying to assist women struggling in the ocean. The poetry award also was created in effort to parallel Edward’s award and was judged by Professor Robert G. Evans. The last award is in memory of Pat B. Tweedie judged by Professor Julia MacDonell-Chang. She was a restaurant and book critic, a newspaper columnist and offered writing classes to female students.
These three awards were created in the names of people who were important members to the writing community. The same can be said about the sixteen people who won the awards. The Edward Czwartacki fiction award was won by Katelyn Sullivan, a junior, who wrote a story about death through the eyes of a child called Harlequin.
The poetry award was won by Joe Jordan, a freshman, whose collection was titled Observations and a Cozy Chair. For this award, students were required to include at least five poems in a collection.
Lastly, the Pat B. Tweedie award for creative nonfiction was won by Ojas Patel, a senior, who wrote a heart wrenching story about a severe car accident his friend was in. In this story, he talks directly to his friend as well as talking to the audience.
It was an overall excellent experience. Everyone who participated should feel extremely proud of their accomplishments especially those who won. It was a great experience to see so many students, faculty, and families come to celebrate the creative arts. Congratulations to Katelyn, Joe, and Ojas for winning first place!