2006 Irreantum fiction contest winners announced

The results of the 2006 Irreantum fiction contest are in. From the AML:

“The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is pleased to announce the winners of the sixth annual Irreantum fiction contest. The judges considered 57 entries without knowing the identity of the authors, and found many entries
to be of excellent quality. Four cash prizes as well as three honorable mentions have been awarded.

First place ($250) went to ‘Light of the New Day,”’ by Darin Cozzens of Dobson, North Carolina; second place ($175) was awarded to ‘“Fish Hut,”’ by Paul Rawlins of Salt Lake City, Utah; and in a tie for third place ($100 each), “’Scattered,”’ by Katherine Woodbury of Portland, Maine, and ‘Deviations,”’ by Laura McCune-Poplin of Malden, Massachusetts, received awards.

Honorable mentions were given to “’Gypsy Holiday,’” by Kristen Carson of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; “’Two Things,”’ by Russ Beck of Logan, Utah; and ‘Speculations: Trees,’ by William Morris of Oakland, California.

Winning entries will be published in the Spring 2007 issue of Irreantum magazine, the AML’s literary journal. Next year’s fiction contest will be announced in early 2007. With no official connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Irreantum and the Irreantum fiction contest are supported by a grant from the Utah Arts Council.”

I’m not sure how honorable I feel, but considering the somewhat odd nature of my entry, I must admit to feeling some sense of validation of the experiment. Congratulations to the winners — I look forward to reading your stories (honestly — it’s one of my favorite parts of Irreantum) — and extra congrats to my fellow co-honorables.

EDIT: I really should check my e-mail before spouting off (for those who didn’t see it before the edit, I mentioned publication of “Speculations: Trees” at Popcorn Popping). It turns out that my entry will be published in Irreantum. I really do feel honorable now. As devoted as I am to the online world, I still hear the siren call of the printed page.