We at Hippocampus Magazine are delighted to announce the winners of our first contest, the Remember in November Contest for Creative Nonfiction. We announced the contest several months ago and were impressed by the caliber of many submissions and very much enjoyed reading them. A big congratulations to the following creative nonfiction writers:
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Grand Prize ($150)
Susan Rukeyser — X-rays Are My Souvenirs
Second Place ($75)
Lydie Raschka — Doors that Open Shut
Third Place ($50)
Honorable Mentions ($10)
Deirdre Sinnott — Outside
Anika Fajardo — The Echo of a Fall
Bill Mullis — Drums of Autumn
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The six winning stories are featured in this month’s issue — November is National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. A portion of contest entry fees will be donated to Alzheimer’s Association. A big, heartfelt thank you to all contest participants for supporting this cause by way of their creativity. (The rest of the entry fees helped support the prizes.) To learn more about this important organization, visit its official website. Also, thank you to my local chapter, The Greater Pennsylvania Chapter, for its support of this contest. We hope next year is even more successful!
Reader’s Choice Award
This award is selected by YOU! The Hippocampus Magazine reading panel narrowed down finalists and our special guest judges — Becky Bradway, Phil Brady, Kaylie Jones and Jesse Waters — selected the winners. Throughout this month, stories also will compete for the title of ‘Most Memorable’ – our usual monthly contest. However, for this special issue, the prize is $100. Good luck to our six winners – one of you will be rewarded one more time!
More Chances to Win…
Ten reader participation prizes of $10 each will be awarded to readers of our magazine. Simply comment on winning stories or share them on Facebook or Twitter (use hashtag #contestforCNF to help track). Reader participation awards will be randomly selected and announced in the December issue. Good luck!
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Also in this issue…
In my September Editor’s Notes, I reflected on the wacky weather we on the East Coast had recently experienced. I could do the same today. About a foot of snow in areas within a 50 mile radius of me — in October! And then there was the thunder snow that spooked me on Saturday afternoon, and later, I found, also knocked the socks off Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore who was doing a live shot about 15 miles from my apartment–the 24/7 cable station certainly got some mileage from that oddity. No matter how wacky or unseasonable the weather is, though, we will still deliver great, new creative nonfiction and articles. Kind of like the mailman. They always come through. Here’s what else you can find in this month’s issue:
Craft
Appropriate to our special issue, Risa Nye peers into the phenomenon of memory and provides useful tips for better remembering.
The Writing Life
Hilary Meyerson explores the nooks and crannies of the libraries of her life; mensah demary takes us along through his morning writing routine.
Interviews
Interviews editor Amye Archer talks to literary agent Weronika Janczuk about the publishing world and dives into the state of selling a memoir. And I speak to Dr. Jean Pretz, associate professor of psychology at Elizabethtown College in “This is Your Brain on Memory.”
Reviews
Reviews editor Ally Bishop lined up two reviews for this issue. First, Audrey Maddox reviews a unique creative nonfiction coffee table book filled with essays and photos by Brian H. Peterson. Also, David McDonald reviews the craft book, Damn the Rejections by Maralys Wills.
Insider Tips
Reading panel member Fran Young gives her advice to aspiring Hippocampus submitters.
Prompts
We share a few responses to last month’s prompt on being late; we also give a new prompt for December.
And, finally, a big shout out to Ben Jolivet who takes home the Most Memorable award for the October 2011 issue. His story, “The Thing That Worked” received quite a bit of traffic and attention on Facebook. He will receive a $25 Amazon.com gift card later this month. Congrats, Ben! Also, kudos to Alvin Berstein; his story, “How I Got to Be None of the Above” received the most comments last issue.
Please enjoy the November issue of Hippocampus and also please join me in a warm congratulations to our Remember in November Contest for Creative Nonfiction winners.
-Donna
P.S. If you can spare a bit of change during these difficult economic times, remember that this month is National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month; consider making a donation of any size.
