2019 Contest Winners

congratulations to our 2019 literary and nancy pearl contest winners

Nancy Pearl Winners

Literary/Mainstream

By Susan Welsh

Can love for a secret child heal old wounds?
St. Paul, MN, 1946: Introspective Shannon Malone and her more popular sister Eliza are Irish twins and best friends. As little girls,they relied on each other for companionship and affection as their mother remained distant, beating back the demons of her own mysterious childhood. With the war finally over, womanhood approaches and both girls look forward to promising--though different--futures. But when tragedy rocks their family,silence and shame bloom and one sister leaves, possibly forever. Heart-broken and physically scarred, the other secretly vows to hold the invisible thread that runs deeply between them. In the course of her journey she encounters a child with a hidden past, and discovers the true meaning of family. But is it enough to bring her sister home?

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Genre

Cafe Budapest

By Peter Curtis

After a perilous journey from Prague, the penniless and exhausted KOHUT family—Willy, Sophie and Pavel—reach Paris. They are desperate to find a way to join relatives in London but with Germany threatening to invade Holland and Belgium, routes across the Channel are blocked. France starts to mobilize her army and strengthen defenses. The Allies declare war on Germany. Hoping to earn some money and find an escape route, Willy signs up with the reconstituted Czechoslovak army based in the south of France, under French military command. Sophie, still with Pavel in Paris finds part-time work at CAFÉ BUDAPEST, run by an old Hungarian baker and his wife. A few weeks later, Pavel and Sophie flee south only to be swept up in the panic when France surrenders. In an emergency evacuation, the Kohut family along with thousands of Czechoslovak soldiers and refugees are evacuated by the British Navy to Gibraltar. Britain faces the Axis powers alone. The future is uncertain.

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Memoir

My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Book

By Karen Treiger

It was August 3, 1943, just one day after Sam escaped the Camp during a prisoner uprising. With 870,000 murdered at Treblinka, Sam was one of approximately 65 to survive and live until the end of the war. Esther had been hiding in that patch of forest for a year and was out that morning, looking for mushrooms to eat. They met and after hearing of the prisoner revolt, she took him to the Righteous Gentiles who, at great danger to themselves, hid them in their barn for three days while the Nazis, Ukrainians and Poles scoured the area looking for escapees. Deciding to stay and hide with Esther, they dug a forest pit where they “lived” when it was not freezing. They subsisted in the pit and the barns – hungry, cold, and scared – for another year until they were liberated by the Red Army in July of 1944.

This is only one piece of their harrowing story of survival. This book tells the story of Sam and Esther, Holocaust survivors, who lost their entire families because of Hitler’s Final Solution. After four years in Displaced Persons Camps, they arrived in New York Harbor to build a new life.

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Literary Contest Winners

Mainstream:

1st Place:

"Into the Water" by Shawna Gamache

2nd Place:

"How to Lose Your Name" by Rita Grace Atmajian

3nd Place:

"The Jazz Garden" by Larkin Greer

Middle Grade: Sponsored by The Flamingo Writer's Group

1st Place:

"Kea Thief" by Jeanette Mendell

2nd Place:

"Clarissa Seng & the Council of Spirits" by Cindy L. Runger

3nd Place:

'Stu & the Bittersweet Taste of Vertigo' by Laurel Hendrix

Historical - Sponsored by Pam Binder:

1st Place:

"Beyond the Narrow Door" by Mary Gregersen

2nd Place:

"Hawthorn & the Willow" by Judy Taylor

3nd Place:

"The Viking Girl" by Patrice Hapke

Nonfiction/Memoir - Sponsored by Donna Conrad:

1st Place:

"The Letter" by Faris Cassell

2nd Place:

"Top Dead Center" by Alison Peacock

3nd Place:

"Double Exposure " by David Gardner

Romance/Women's Fiction - Sponsored by Gerri Russell:

1st Place:

"Damaged in Transit" by Sandra Morris

2nd Place:

"Chasing Home" by Priscilla Cook

3nd Place:

"Ghost of a Woman" by Jennie Spohr

Poetry:

1st Place:

"Tres: A Mother's Grief for Mother; Genius Missed; Alone, without Him by Jennifer Heath

2nd Place:

"Winter Music, Minor Key, The Cost of Accounting" by William Moore

3nd Place:

"Lapis Lazuli, Working the Drift, December" by Jonna Laster

Mystery/Thriller - Sponsored by Robert Dugoni:

1st Place:

"Doppel" by Val Moses

2nd Place:

"Fever Heights" by Michael Munro

3nd Place:

"The Darkest Evening" by Margaret Elphick

Short Story:

1st Place:

"The Mind Believes" by Kate Swenson

2nd Place:

"The Wall" by Cherie Langlois

3nd Place:

"Lesson in Futility" by Sharon Clawson

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal:

1st Place:

"Minotaur's Shadow" by Sherry Brummel

2nd Place:

"Dragoncast" by Alex Tremari

3nd Place:

"The Trouble with Undead People" by Denise Tiller

Childrens:

1st Place:

"Sensational Annie: How Annie Londonderry Became the First Woman to Bike Around the World" by Kathryn Harold

2nd Place:

"Wonderland: Hiding Boeing during World War II" by Maria Marshall

3nd Place:

"My Best Friend, Her Royal Highness" by Stephanie Ward

Young Adult: Sponsored by an Anonymous Sponsor

1st Place:

"Burn" by Cherie Langlois

2nd Place:

"Jordan's River" by Anita Price

3nd Place:

"Ravel's Revenge" by Giselle Stancic

Adult Short Topics: Sponsored by Behler Publications

1st Place:

"The Mother of All Fears" by Donna Cameron

2nd Place:

"Forgive Me Father" by Erin Olds

3nd Place:

"Pork Belly Past" by Steve Jaquith

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