From Maine Writers
 

PORTLAND – During an awards ceremony last Thursday, hosted on Zoom with an audience of hundreds, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (MWPA) announced the winners of the 2021 Maine Literary Awards.

Lewiston High School received an Honorable Mention award in the Secondary School Literary Magazine category for its magazine titled Collage.

The Maine Literary Awards is an annual competition sponsored and coordinated by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Nominations were open to all Maine residents, including seasonal residents. The statewide competition is for published books, as well as drama, short works, and student writing. Each year, the awards are judged by anonymous panels that rotate and include more than 40 accomplished writers, editors, booksellers, librarians, and literary professionals.

Nearly 300 writers sent in their work for consideration from all corners of Maine.

Awards

Book Award for Crime Fiction – Bruce Robert Coffin, Within Plain Sight.

Book Award for Fiction – Jim Nichols, Blue Summer.

Book Award for Nonfiction – Kerri Arsenault, Mill Town.

Book Award for Memoir – Phuc Tran, Sigh, Gone.

Book Award for Poetry – Éireann Lorsung, The Century.

John N. Cole Award for Maine Nonfiction (co-winners) – Michael K. Komanecky, Jane Bianco, and Angela Waldron, Maine and American Art: The Farnsworth Art Museum; and Peter Taylor (editor) and Kara Douglas, From the Mountains to the Sea: The Historic Restoration of the Penobscot River.

Book Award for Young People’s Literature – Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True.

Book Award for Children’s – Anica Mrose Rissi, Love, Sophia on the Moon.

Book Award for Speculative Fiction –Emma J. Gibbon, Dark Blood Comes from the Feet.

Book Award for Excellence in Publishing – Joshua Klein, Another Work is Possible, Mortise & Tenon.

Book Award for Anthology – Claire Millikin and Agnes Bushell, Enough! Poems of Resistance.

Drama Award – Travis Baker, “Hockey Mom”.

Short Works Competition in Fiction –Morgan Talty, “The Blessing Tobacco”.

Short Works Competition in Nonfiction (co-winners) – Parker Blaney, “Detox”; and Sarah Twombly, “What We Want is Simple”.

Short Works Competition in Poetry – Suzanne Langlois, “What Lasts”.

Award for a Secondary School Literary Magazine –

 Honorable Mentions:

Legenda, Harrison Middle School.

Collage, Lewiston High School.

GORP, Falmouth High School/

EPOCH: A Creative Magazine for Teens by Teens, Skidompha Library.

Young Writers 2020, Androscoggin Valley Educational Collaborative Young Writers Program.

Other Awards

Youth Competition in Fiction – Alexa Barstow, “Windswept”.

Youth Competition in Nonfiction – Nina Chase, “Forest Journal”.

Youth Competition in Poetry – Clara Bossi, “Cedars Still Growing”.

Special Awards

2021 BOOK DONATION RECIPIENTS – The Lubec Memorial Library will receive a copy of every book nominated to this year’s awards.

2021 MWPA DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD –
Carolyn Chute, for exceptional and steadfast contributions to the Maine literary arts as a fiction writer. Presented by novelist Ron Currie, Jr.

Winners may be found on the Maine Writers website at http://bitly.ws/dCVN.

Finalists may be found on the Maine Writers website at  http://bitly.ws/dCVL