On Wednesday, September 20th I attended the University of Michigan-Dearborn writing awards. The awards lasted nearly 35 minutes and contained 6 categories ranging from honors to first-year writing. The experience was vital to my writing because I was able to hear award-winning essays and poetry. Even though I disagreed with some of the winners, I did enjoy others and will hopefully take something home that will benefit my writing in the future.
The first essay I enjoyed was a fiction piece by Holly Carlisle called “Point of No Return.” The essay was an emotional narrative about a heated relationship. I don’t know if it was completely made up or there was inspiration but I believe it revealed deep feelings. It also exposed the different stages of a break-up till the end.
The poetry awards were the only awards I didn’t agree with. The 2nd place winner, Carl J. Garfield wrote a very interesting poem called “Tornado Township.” It was a somber piece that a struck a chord of fear. The poem was even in the shape of a tornado for a unique twist. I believe he should have won 1st place hands down. The first place poem, “Hitchhiker” by Amal Algahmi was distinctive but not 1st place work. It was a short 2-line poem that lacked substance and essence. If I were a judge I wouldn’t even have given this poem any votes.
The awards inspired me to enter next years contest. As a songwriter I have many songs that could be structured as a poem and maybe impact someone to receiving an award. I enjoyed my time and hopefully will make it back next year as a participant rather than a student observing.
No comments:
Post a Comment