The Association for Mormon Letters has announced the winners of its 2007 Irreantum Fiction Contest. Sadly, it appears the Bloggernacle was shut out this year. Here’s the announcement:
“The Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to announce the winners of the seventh annual Irreantum fiction contest. The judges considered 133 entries, and three cash prizes as well as two honorable mentions have been awarded.
“First place ($250): ‘Calling and Election,’ by Jack Harrell of Rexburg, Idaho.
“Second place ($175): ‘Reap in Mercy,’ by Darin Cozzens of Dobson, North Carolina
“Third place ($100): ‘A Stranger to You,’ by Cara Diaconoff of Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Honorable mentions were given to ‘Salt Water,’ by Arianne Cope of Cedar City, Utah; and ‘The Memo Box,’ by Heidi Tighe of Pocatello, Idaho.”
Harrell, Cope and Cozzens are all published authors. I’m not familiar with the other winners, but I’ll update this post tomorrow with links to the Mormon Literature Database and other relevant sites.
I look forward to reading the winning entries. Irreantum seems to be a bit behind schedule so it might be awhile. But the contest winners are generally some of my favorite stuff that Irreantum publishes.
8/16/07 UPDATE:
As promised, here are the Mormon Literature Database entries:
I’m not sure why there isn’t an entry for Arianne Cope. Her novel The Coming of Elijah received the 2006 Marilyn Brown Novel Award from the Association for Mormon Letters and was published by Parables Publishing last year.
Jack Harrell is the author of Vernal Promises which I reviewed in 2005.
Cara Diaconoff is a graduate of Indiana University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program. The program has posted the following update about her — it’s not clear when this was published so it may be out-of-date:
“Cara Diaconoff is a lecturer in English at Texas Christian University, where she teaches creative writing, literature, and composition. She has published stories in Other Voices, descant, and Indiana Review, and has recently completed a collection of short stories, UNMARRIAGEABLE DAUGHTERS, which she is currently submitting, with fond hopes, to various publishers. From 1997 to 1999 she served as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in western Russia. She is now drawing on that experience for her latest project, a novel about a young American Mormon man coming out of the closet in contemporary Moscow.”
Diaconoff also was or maybe still is a graduate fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center.
Heidi Tighe appears to be a speculative fiction writer/reviewer/essayist — or at least that’s what a Google search of her name suggests.
Cozzens is chair of the English/Communications Department at Surry Community College. His essays have been published in BYU Studies and Weber Studies.
A Motley Vision 
Thanks for the additional info, William!
I happen to know that we had some absolutely fantastic entries this year. It makes me so hopeful for the future of Irreantum and Mormon Letters in general. Thanks for the publicity here, William, and the background info on the winners.
Congratulations to all of the winners! I look forward to reading your stories.
By the way, did you notice that Cara Diaconoff’s novel (from which her Irreantum-winning excerpt was taken) won first place in the Utah Arts Council contest this year?
Nope. Congrats, Cara. Does this mean that it has been or will be published?
Hello–
I’m seeing your messages a bit late, but I just wanted to thank you for the notes re the Utah Arts Council prize. Very nice of you to notice! Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean it will be published. It did win some cash. I’m still submitting it all around until it finds a willing publisher. It’s now titled *I’ll Be a Stranger to You.* Thanks very much for the gratis notices.–Cara