Dylan Days announces 2010 winners of the Rolfzen writing contest
HIBBING,
Minn. ─ Dylan Days has announced the
winners of its creative writing contest, now named for the
late Iron Range English teacher B.J. Rolfzen, who taught Bob Dylan and
thousands of other Hibbing students over four decades.
Will Tinkham of Minneapolis won the fiction category. Sandra Dempsey of
Toronto, Ontario, Canada won the one act playwright contest. Steven
Lukas of Minneapolis won
the open poetry category and Rachel Dillabaugh of Kettering, Ohio, won
the student poetry category.
The winners and finalists in each category will be
published in the annual Dylan Days program and literary journal
"Talkin' Blues." The winning play will be given a world premiere
staging at the Hibbing Community College Theater on Friday, May 28 at 3
p.m. for the Dylan Days Literary Showcase. That event will also feature
brief readings from several of the 2010 poets and authors. Iron Range
author, blogger and Dylan Days co-organizer Aaron Brown will emcee the
event.
"Once again hundreds of authors, poets and
playwrights from all over the world took the time to enter a small
contest in northern Minnesota," said Brown, who coordinated the
contest. "This was, in part, because of the fame and admiration for Bob
Dylan, but also I think because the place where Dylan is from holds its
own mysteries and mystique, and that people want to support the arts in
places like this. Our main goal is to offer publishing and reading
opportunities for up-and-coming writers."
The contest judges this year were Heidi Holtan,
Michael Ricci and Mary Palcich Keyes. Holtan is the host and producer
of RealGoodWords, a writing
program on 91.7 KAXE, Northern Community Radio in Grand Rapids. Ricci
is the director of theater at North Hennepin Community College in
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Keyes is a retired English teacher and speech
coach who, with her husband Joe, owns and operates the Howard Street
Booksellers in downtown Hibbing.
In addition to the name change, the contest
changed some of its procedures. The fiction divisions were consolidated
into one open division. A formal plaque honoring Rolfzen will be
dedicated at Dylan Days 2010 and will display the names of winners,
who originating from all over the world.
"This change allows us to publish more stories and
poems, focus on doing a good play and give people who win a sense of
connection with Hibbing and the Iron Range," said Brown. "The winners
will always know that their names are on display in Bob Dylan's
hometown."
The complete list of winners follows:
Fiction
Grand Prize: "Ghost Stories"
by Will Tinkham of
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Finalists:
"Approximation" by Sarah Stonich
of Minneapolis, Minnesota
"Bill of Sale" by Ruby Murray
of Cathlamet, Washington
"The Darkest Evening" by Lindsy
O'Brien of Cloquet, Minnesota
"Flying Down to Rio" by Brenda
Peloquin of Virginia, Minnesota
"The God of Elephant Heads" by Shalene
Gupta of Washington, D.C.
"Louisiana Grin" by Brenna Daugherty of
Santa
Rosa, California (Santa
Rosa Junior College)
"Oppa" by Ayanna Lawson of
Woodbridge, Virginia (Woodbridge Senior High
School)
"The Right Place" by Renee Holland
Davidson of Brea, California
"The Shabiby Express" by Elise
Glassman of Seattle, Washington
Open Poetry
Grand Prize: "Friends"
by Steven Lukas of
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Finalists:
"If I Came to Mexico" by Richard
Ballon of Amherst, Massachusetts
"Bird, Bath, and Beyond" by James
Cihlar of St. Paul, Minnesota
"Confessions of a Freshman" by Tim J.
Brennan of Austin, Minnesota
"The Legend" by Tom Knutila of
Albuquerque, New Mexico
"Word Tasting" by Cheryl Weibye Wilke
of Bloomington, Minnesota
"To Todd" by Susan Spindler
of Edina, Minnesota
"Bob Dylan's Vocal Chords" by David
Cappella of Farmington, Connecticut
Student Poetry
Grand Prize: "Train-Ridin'
Passengers" by Rachel Dillabaugh
of Kettering, Ohio (Sinclair Community College)
.
Finalists:
"Rare Birds" by Andrew David King of
Hayward, California (Moreau Catholic High
School)
"Remembering" by Mary Liza Hartong
of Nashville, Tennessee (Harpath Hall School)
"Chicago Winters" by Emily C. Miner
of Naperville, Illinois (Pomona College)
"Hedges Not Edges" by Kylie Foley of
Lake
Worth, Florida (Florida State)
"Dylan the Other Day" by Aditya Menon
of Northfield, Minnesota (Carleton College)
"A Burst of Yellow" by Chido Muchemwa of Denton, Texas
(University of North Texas)
One-Act Playwright
Grand Prize: “Armagideon” by
Sandra Dempsey of Toronto,
Canada
Finalists:
”Bricks” by Ron Radice of
Andover, Massachusetts
“Night Cries” by David Wright Crawford
of Tyler,
Texas
“In A Pickle” by Karen Hartline of
Oakland,
California
“Bob Dylan – Mind Out Of Time” by Ann
Schulman of St. Paul, Minnesota
For more information, e-mail Dylan Days co-chair Aaron Brown at
aaronbrown@hibbing.edu or call him at 218-969-9663.
The following are the rules that were posted for this year's contest.
Similar rules are expected for the 2011 contest.
Original one-act
play competition
(open to all playwrights)
All submissions should be plays that have not been produced in any
other theatres. They can be of any genre except musicals, or
puppet theatre.
Scripts should be between 30 and 60 minutes in length, and contain 3-6
characters. Settings should be fairly modest, staying away from
extravagant set pieces and special effects. Content and subject
matter are completely open, but should reflect what Bob Dylan came to
be known for - an original voice who embraced a new direction, a unique
vision with the power to move people. All submissions will be
reviewed by a panel of judges, and the winning entry will be given a
fully mounted production on stage in Hibbing. All entries must be
postmarked by March 15, 2010.
Entrants in the playwright
contest only should submit via mail only:
Dylan Days One Act Playwright Contest
C/O Mike Ricci, Director
North Hennepin Community College Theatre
7411 85th Ave. N.
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
(All entries for fiction and
poetry must be electronically
submitted. No entries in fiction or
poetry categories will be considered unless they are submitted
following the electronic submission guidelines listed in each
category's rules
listed below).
For more information on the one-act competition, contact Mike Ricci at 763-493-0543.
(Starting in 2010, Mike
Ricci will manage the one act judging from North Hennepin Community
College and then stage the production in Hibbing).
Open Division Poetry
- Poems limited to 1,000 words on
any subject. Because of overwhelming interest in our small contest,
limit yourself to
entering your best unpublished poem. Multiple entries will not be
considered.
- Deadline is March 15, 2010; Enter
through electronic submission only
by clicking on the ENTER link at the
bottom of this page and properly filling out the online submission form.
The B.J. Rolfzen Student Poetry Division
- Must be currently
enrolled in high school or
undergraduate college and
have no professional literary publication.
- Poems limited to 1,000 words on
any
subject. Because of overwhelming interest in our small contest, limit
yourself to entering
your best unpublished poem. Multiple entries will not be considered.
- Deadline is March 15, 2009; Enter
through electronic submission only
by
clicking on the ENTER link and properly
filling out the online submission form.
Short Fiction
- Short story in any genre, limit
4,000 words, limit one story per person.
- Contest open to both students and
general audience authors. Emerging and unpublished writers in
particular are encouraged to enter. Special considerationg given to
creativity
and innovation in writing style.
- Deadline is March 15, 2010; Enter
through electronic submission only
by clicking on the ENTER link at the bottom of
this page and properly filling out the online submission form.
CONTEST DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
Winners will be announced at the
end of April. Entry rules for next year will be posted after Dylan Days
2010.
In all divisions, entries need
not be about Bob
Dylan or use his style of writing; but they should strive for
creativity,
originality and literary theme.
All prizewinners are invited
to take part in a literary reading and reception at Hibbing Community College during Dylan
Days 2009. We
will also offer a free creative writing workshop (to be
announced). This
year, the Literary Showcase is one of
several
Dylan Days activities including the Saturday night "Bob’s Birthday
Bash"
songwriter’s
contest, a visual art contest, weekend bus tours of “Bobby Zimmerman’s Hibbing” live music, Dylan documentaries and
displays, and exciting music events.
NOTICE ON RIGHTS AND PRIOR PUBLICATION: We ask that only original,
unpublished works be submitted to our contest. Entering the contest
grants us one time rights to publish and winning works in the Dylan
Days
literary journal and program. In the playwright contest, entering
grants Dylan Days and its assigns to stage and perform the play once
during Dylan Days, but does not include publication. After publication
or performance, rights revert to the
authors.
SUBMISSION
DEADLINE FOR ALL CATEGORIES: 11:59 p.m.,
March 15, 2010
You will be
asked to provide your name, the title of piece, your
phone number, address and your e-mail address along with the text of
your work. Students will be asked to list the school or college they
are enrolled in at the time of entry. Any special formatting (such as
italics, bold face) must be
done in HTML, otherwise entries should be submitted text only (Please
indent paragraphs or separate them with one space). Be sure to select
the correct division in the
online submission form. You
must be a
registered high school or college student at the TIME OF ENTRY to be
eligible
for the student divisions. Previous winners are eligible to enter. We
strictly
enforce word counts for poetry and short fiction.
See who's
in the Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest
Hall of Fame, including past winners and honorees since 2003.
Dylan
Days
is
organized
by Dylan Days, Hibbing, MN, a nonprofit
corporation
dedicated to advancing the arts in Bob Dylan's hometown.
All content not provided for promotional purposes copyright by Aaron
J. Brown for Dylan Days.
