Chestatee Review winners get their pieces published
February 16, 2011 by Alaina Davis
Filed under News
On Jan. 18, 2011, The Chestatee Review 2010 announced this year’s winners.
According to The Chestatee Review website, the magazine is run by Gainesville State College and published each spring by the English Club. It is designed to show off student and guest poetry, short fiction, one-act plays, informal essays, and formal essays.
For each category there are first, second, and third place winners, with cash prizes of $100, $50, and $25. The winners also get their pieces published in The Chestatee Review.
This year in the category of one-act plays, Katie Keiger took first place with “Romeo and Rosaline.” Keiger said, “[I] was really excited. I had entered a play last year but I wrote it in a week and didn’t revise it, it was a mess, first play I’d ever written.”
She went on to thank her teacher and classmates in her playwriting class for helping her to fix the mistakes this time around. Keiger’s play was liked so much it was entered into the regional contest, which Keiger said, “I’m praying that my play will do well in that too, but we’ll have to see.” Keiger added the play is a humorous story about love being broken.
Other winners were Sara Madsen who placed first in the poetry section with “Beltane Night.” Katherine Schinell took first place in the short fiction with “The Island.” Charles Ryan Leveille won first place in the informal essay category with “This I Believe.” The last category was formal essays, and Jason Martin took first place with “Humanity: Killing is in Our Blood.”
Alex Johns, faculty advisor for The Chestatee Review, said selections were made by, “…Outside judges. We find established authors and editors to review the pieces.” By hiring outside judges, Johns explained it gives the assurance that no bias can be formed between judges and students’ written pieces.
To enter the contest, Johns said, “Now that we have email you can enter all year around but deadline is Dec. 1 of each year.” The Chestatee Review website is chestatee@gsc.edu, and students can also contact Johns with any questions by going to the employee directory on the GSC website.
