GREENEVILLE– Tusculum University students have been honored for excellence in writing by an award-winning author who was impressed by the caliber of the entries she judged.
The English program held the Curtis ’28 and Billie Owens Literary Prize ceremony Thursday, April 16, in Behan Arena Theatre. The competition for the awards was open to all students regardless of their major. Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, who served as the judge, picked the following recipients for prizes in four genres:
In addition, JP Campione was selected as a runner-up in the nonfiction category for “Go Find Your Own Mom.”
“These submissions were so cool to read,” Gilliland, a USA Today best-selling and Pura Belpré Award-winning Mexican American poet, novelist and painter, told the students who entered. “Y’all are so talented. I participate in a writers’ group session virtually with some writer friends throughout the week. Instead of writing, I was reading these entries, and I kept bragging about how amazing they were.”
Perspective from Paxton
Paxton, a senior pursing a bachelor’s degree inEnglish, with a concentration in creative writing, and an associate degree inreligious studies, has won multiple awards during her studies at Tusculum, including collecting three prizes in the 2024 Owens competition. She said it was meaningful to be recognized again.
“It never stops being exciting,” Paxton said. “When they announce the awards, you still get that nervous feeling, ‘Oh my goodness, here they go.’ Raquel talked a lot about being all right with rejection. I have adopted that approach, so the rejection sort of dulls after a while, but the excitement of winning doesn’t. So that’s really fun.”
For"The One with the Custody Agreement" Paxton sought to explore a breakup in a humorous fashion. The character who is ending the relationship believes the breakup will be a heartbreaking conversation and result in a lot of changes. The recipient of the breakup conveys that life will be OK for that person because the two of them still care about each other. It highlights the different ways one can care about another human. Gilliland said the work contained well-written direction, sense of space and beautifully developed characters.
“Holy Ground” examines the different ways Paxton has experienced grief and the way the stereotypical version of that emotion does not apply in many instances. It also delves into the fact that certain methods some people might think would help with comfort might have the opposite effect. It highlights that people need to find their own way to circumvent that. Gilliland said she was captivated by this nonfiction work’s voice.
As she reflects on what has changed for her in the two years since she won the other Owens awards, she said creative writing for an author constantly evolves – in style and meaning.
“The first time, I was throwing a lot of things at the wall and seeing what would stick,” she said. “A lot of things did and a lot of things didn’t. With sort of writing now, I find it easier to know where I’m going before I start.”
The viewpoint of Higgins
Higgins, a junior who is seeking a degree inelementary education, K-5,and is an enrollment representative in theOffice of Admission, said winning has produced waves of happiness and hopefulness as a writer.
“I finally decided to branch out and write from personal experience with work that is more meaningful to me,” she said. “This award feels like a reflection of how powerful writing can be when it is authentic and truly represents the writer.I'm beyond thankful for the amazing English professors that Tusculum has who have all helped shape my writing in one way or another.”
Higgins describes “One Weekend a Month” as a nostalgic piece about her childhood experiences. She wanted to write about her family and fond memories with her brother, Bray. She incorporated some of her favorite things that her family did, such as spending time outside or eating French toast cooked her stepmother, Brooke. Gilliland said the nostalgia in this poem is perfectly rendered and made her want to read everything from the entrant.
Higgins entered the competition because she wanted to apply her writing to her own experiences and challenge herself to write outside the classroom. She wanted to energize other students to branch out and make time to write for themselves.
“I feel this will help me grow as an educator, as many great English teachers often write themselves,” she said. “I want to inspire my future students to think creatively, write outside the box and write about things important to them. I think it is also important for educators to practice what they teach, and I wanted to challenge myself to do just that.”
Comments from Reed
Reed is a sophomore who is also going the creative writing route with his studies, said he was excited and surprised that he won an award.
“Going into the contest and submitting my work, I knew that Tusculum has a great amount of especially talented and hard-working writers that would also be submitting their work,” he said. “So, when I ended up winning the fiction section, needless to say I was very surprised, but also excited, because this was the first time I have been given an award for my writing.”
Reed’s goal with his submission was to present a more positive outlook on the world. He said much of the world is filled with negativity and people who have bad outlooks, so he used his piece to show two people who have major challenges in life and are residing in an undesirable location without much money but still have a positive approach. Gilliland said this piece contains phenomenal voice and setting, and she said the imagery was stunning.
“This prizehas definitely boosted my confidence in my ability to write. I have always enjoyed writing, since I was in at least second grade, but I never saw it as something as a career. I’m still on the fence about it being my career but this really helped to show me that if I write something, a few people at the very least will think it is good and will want to read it.”
Thoughts from Campione
Campione, a sophomore who is also on a path for an English degree with the creative writing concentration, was happy with the outcome for him.
“It’s nice to receive an award for your work and the piece was one I really cared about,” he said. “I know there were a lot of people that submitted for the competition. It’s neat to have an event like that, where people can submit their works and have a chance of winning.”
“Go Find Your Own Mom” tells the story about a young girl whose mother has gone to work in another country and the experience of living without that parent. The mother returns for a visit, and the piece discusses the trip to the airport to pick her up and the thoughts and memories the child has. The work addresses the struggles associated with having a mother who works abroad. Gilliland said this piece explained intergenerational, traumatic wounds so well.
Campione sought to describe the beauty of the location where the story is set, and he injected some humor because he likes to include that in his writing.
“Receiving this award helps give you more confidence in your writing as does being recognized in anything,” he said. “It also tells me what to work more in. You don’t always want to base things on other people’s opinions, but when it’s something like this, if you submitted multiple stories and this is the one that was picked for an award, I think it tells you where to focus your energy.”
In addition to presenting the awards, Gilliland read from three of her nonfiction books – “Witch of Wild Things,” “How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe” and “Sia Martinez and the Moonlight Beginning of Everything.” She also participated in a question-and-answer session with the audience. Friday, April 17, she returned to campus for an informal conversation with students and faculty members.
Kelsey Trom, professor of English and the creative writing program coordinator, said the event was a major success.
“This year’s winning pieces really are remarkable in both insight and craft,” she said. “And so many of the other entries were, too – competition is stiff. The student’s urgent work and study was evident in the maturity and professionalism with which they talked to Gilliland at dinner, during the event and at the roundtable the next day. They asked her the questions of writer peers, not neophytes.”
Some of the pieces Gilliland chose as winners will be available in the next edition of “Sit Lux,” the Tusculum literary journal that is almost entirely student-produced. This edition is launched Friday, April 24, at Tusculum’s Academic Symposium.
“Raquel was so generous in her conversations with us, and her answers and anecdotes gave students the kind of inspiration, practical advice and camaraderie all writers need,” Trom said. “I’m incredibly grateful to her – a bestselling author several times over – for making the trip and treating Tusculum students like what they are: the next generation of important writers.”
Additional information about Tusculum’s English program is available athttps://site.tusculum.edu/english-2/. To learn more about the university, visitwww.tusculum.edu.
