From left, 2016 Curtis Owens Literary Prize award winners Tyler Brown, Sarah Holly, Jennie Frost, Judge Eric Lundgren, Emily Waryck, Emily Watson and Austen Herron.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Tusculum College students Jennie Frost, Emily Wyrick and Sarah Holly are the winners of the 2016 Curtis and Billie Owens Literary Awards.
The awards, which are given annually to recognize the literary achievements of the college's students, are open to all Tusculum College students.
Frost, a senior creative writing major from Friendsville won the fiction category; Waryck a junior creative writing major from New Concord, Ohio, picked up the prize for poetry; and Holly, a senior creative writing major from Johnson City won the non-fiction category.
Honorable mentions were given in the fiction, poetry and nonfiction categories. Six students received an honorable mention for original works, including Holly (poetry), Frost (poetry) and Waryck (fiction). Additional honorable mentions were awarded to Austen Herron a senior from Durham, North Carolina, and Tyler Brown, a freshman from Rockwood, both in the non-fiction category, and Emily Watson, a junior from Watauga for her fiction entry.
The winners' works will be included in a publication to be released during the 2016 Old Oak Festival, April 15-17. Additionally, the winners will read their selections at the Tusculum Review Launch Party scheduled from Saturday, April 16, at 4 p.m. on the Terrace of the Thomas J. Garland Library on the Greeneville campus, as part of the 2016 Old Oak Festival.
The Curtis and Billie Owens Literary Awards are annually given to recognize the literary achievements of Tusculum College's creative writing students. The literary award was named for Curtis Owens, a 1928 graduate of Tusculum College who went on to a teaching career at what is now Pace University in New York. He and his wife established the award at his alma mater to encourage and reward excellence in writing among Tusculum College students.
The event also featured readings by contest judge Eric Lundgren and fiction writer Dr. Meagan Cass, and was part of the Humanities Series, sponsored by the Tusculum College English Department.
