Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Three Mississippi residents and one from Florida are winners of the English department's annual undergraduate writing competition at Mississippi State.
Senior Brett B. Aldridge of Pensacola, and juniors Catherine G. Bryant of Vicksburg, Elizabeth A. Harmon of Bailey and Alexis L. Hutchinson of Columbus are receiving the 2005 university awards.
Students enrolled in any academic major may enter in the poetry and fiction categories. First-place winners advance to competition sponsored by the Southern Literary Festival, which includes more than 100 regional junior and senior colleges and universities.
Aldridge, a communication/public relations major, received the first-place award in short story for "The Price." Bryant, an English education major, took second-place for her story "The Visitor."
Harmon received the first-place poetry award for "Little Sister"; Hutchinson, second place for her poem "Frida Kahlo's 'The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.'" Both are English majors.
"The Undergraduate Writing Contest has served the campus community for more than 15 years and is among ways the English department supports and promotes well-organized, specific written and verbal communication," said competition coordinator Richard Lyons.
"Over the years, winning students have come from a wide range of majors, including English, business, education, and physics, among others," he observed. "The English department continues to encourage participation in this contest as a way to build resumes for the very competitive 'real world.'"
Lyons, director of the department's creative writing program, said no awards were presented this year in the formal and informal essay, and original play categories.
LOCAL EDITORS: Aldridge is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Marion Snyder [32503]; Bryant, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Bryant; Harmon, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Harmon; and Hutchinson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Gary.