For immediate release
Aug. 7, 2003

Abilene Christian University students have again made an impressive showing in the annual Student Writing Contest sponsored by the Conference for Christianity and Literature, capturing five out of the ten awards.

Results of the contest were announced this week by Wheaton College professor and poet David Wright.

Amanda Helms received first place in the fiction category for her story "Losing Joy," and Amy Deming's story, "Thorns," was honored with third place in the category.

In nonfiction, Chris Bourland's essay, "How Lovely is Thy Heavenly Dwelling Place," and Jordan Pownall's essay, "Toward the Sea," tied for second place.

A poem by Emily Hardegree called "fruit, wagon, sun," was given third place in a tie with a poem by a student from Gordon College.

"In previous years we have done very well, winning first place in fiction, for example, at least twice," said Al Haley, ACU writer-in-residence. "That said, this was our best year ever, even eclipsing 2000 when we took first, third, two honorable mentions in fiction and a second place in poetry, and this is the strongest showing we've made thus far in nonfiction, giving us a real presence in all three contest genres."

All winning ACU student works were written in creative writing classes taught by Haley.

In all, 90 writers from 20 different campuses, including Wheaton College and Calvin College, entered this year's contest, judged by Canadian writer Allison Gresik.

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