2020-2021
Congratulations to this year's winners and honorable mentions in the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum’s third annual Literary Contest and to our first-ever winner of the Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award!
Grades 9 – 10:
Jessica Kim, "This Side, Reimagined"
Grades 9 – 10 Honorable Mentions:
Sruti Peddi, “Letters from War”
Grades 11 – 12:
Grades 11 – 12 Honorable Mentions:
Brenna McCord, "Blood and Bone"
Undergraduate:
Nardien Sadik, “Painfully Silent”
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award
Colby Meeks, Lee High School in Huntsville
The theme for 2020 – 2021 was “The Education of a Personage” to honor the centennial of F. Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel This Side of Paradise. The Fitzgeralds’ literary and artistic works from the 1920s and 1930s are still regarded as groundbreaking, and The Fitzgerald Museum is pleased to honor these young writers as daring and revolutionary writers of their generation. Thank you to Alina Stefanescu for judging the high school entries and to Ashley M. Jones for judging the undergraduate category.About the two high school winners, judge Alina Stefanescu.
This beautiful poem [Kim's poem "This Side, Reimagined"] speaks directly into the legacy of Fitzgerald's literature and unfinished buildings. In an intertextual key, the poet converses across time with F. Scott's novel, creating sparks with each enjambment. In looking at war, the poem revises what man learns from it, turning the usual lesson on its head while placing this in the context of Fitzgerald's life. Daring and revolutionary in a soft way—in a way that challenges the modality and aggression of war itself-- Kim recontextualizes the past in lyric.
In this short piece [Dierks' story "The Hunted"] about hunting with a father, the narrator sets up a tension about what predation means in the context of heritage—and the writer meets the expectation he sets. A haunting and violent immersion in the socialization of southern masculinity and the tools required to inhabit it. One feels how complex inheritance can be, and what it asks of gender- identifying males with respect to silence about violence. How much the son wants to be significant in the fathers' eyes, and how there is no reprieve from the crime of wanting to belong, to be loved.
About the undergraduate winner Nardien Sadik, judge Ashley M. Jones had these remarks:
[Sadik's poem] "Painfully Silent" enthralled me with its authenticity and clear vision of the failures of a colonial sense of belonging that does not always leave room for those, like the poet, who come to America from other places. This poet shows us their truth and the ways in which they matter, even in a world which attempts to discount their efforts at being here in this "land of the free."
In its three years, the contest, which is open to high school students and college undergraduates, has received submissions from around the United States and overseas. This year's honorees attend schools and colleges around the California, Arizona, and _places_. The three grade-level winners will receive a monetary prize, and all honorees will have their works published on the Fitzgerald Museum’s website.This year was the first year for the Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award. Montgomery, Alabama native Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was daring and revolutionary in her life, art, and writing, and the award that bears her name seeks to identify and honor Alabama’s high school students who share her talent and spirit.About winner Colby Meek's portfolio, judge Josef Vice.
All submissions were impressive. One, however, stood out above all the rest. Writing with a voice well beyond the age of the writer, exploring sometimes provocative, but always bold and evocative themes and boldly experimenting with verse and poetic style, tone, and voice, as well as form, Colby Meeks’ portfolio submission of original poems deserves the distinction of receiving the inaugural Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award for high school students in Alabama. Each of the seven poems in this portfolio is unique and in total they display a range of poetic devices and mastery of several forms, as well as being a pleasure to read. This gifted writer has an amazing, distinct, and powerful voice, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to have heard it expressed in these poems.
For more information about the contest, visit the contest webpage on the Fitzgerald Museum website. Guidelines for next year's contest will be posted in August 2021.
The Fitzgerald Museum’s 2020-2021 Annual Literary Contest:
Theme: The Education of a Personage
F. Scott and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald were daring and revolutionary in their lives and in their art and writing. More than one hundred years after they met in Montgomery, Alabama, the Fitzgeralds’ literary and artistic works from the 1920s and 1930s are still regarded as groundbreaking, and The Fitzgerald Museum is seeking to identify and honor the daring and revolutionary young writers and artists of this generation.
Genres accepted: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Multi-Genre
Categories: Grades 9–10, Grades 11–12, Undergraduate
General Guidelines for 2020 – 2021:
The Fitzgerald Museum’s annual Literary Contest is seeking submissions of short fiction, poetry, ten-minute plays, and multi-genre works that exhibit the theme "The Education of a Personage," which is the title of the second section of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920 debut novel This Side of Paradise. (This would include works about learning, growing up, and maturing.) Works with traditional forms and styles will be accepted for judging, yet writers are encouraged to send works that utilize innovative forms and techniques. Literary works may include artwork, illustrations, font variations, and other graphic elements, with the caveat that these elements should enhance the work, not simply decorate the page.
The submissions period is open from September 1 until December 31, 2020. Works will be judged in three separate age categories, not by genre, so please be clear about the age category. Submissions should not exceed ten pages (with font sizes no smaller than 11 point). Each student may only enter once. Awards will be announced by March 16, 2021. Each age category will have a single winner and possibly an honorable mention.
Submissions should be sent to fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com with “Literary Contest Submission” in the subject line and relevant information in the email. Due to issues of compatibility, works should be attached as PDFs to ensure that they appear as the author intends. Files should be named with the author’s first initial [dot] last name [underscore] title. For example, J.Smith_InnovativeStory.pdf.
This year’s judges are Ashley M. Jones for the undergraduate category and Alina Stefanescu for the high school categories. Jones is the author of the poetry collections Magic City Gospel and dark // thing, teaches at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, and organizes the Magic City Poetry Festival. Stefanescu is a poet and fiction writer, whose most recent collection is Every Mask I Tried On. For more information, contact the Fitzgerald Museum or contest coordinator Foster Dickson.
The Inaugural Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award
(for high school students in Alabama only)
Montgomery, Alabama native Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was daring and revolutionary in her life, art, and writing, and The Fitzgerald Museum’s Young Writers Award that bears her name seeks to identify and honor Alabama’s high school students who share her talent and spirit. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was inducted into the Alabama Writer’s Hall of Fame in the Spring 2020. To honor her literary legacy we have a new contest and award to recognize and foster young Alabama writers.
General Guidelines:
The Fitzgerald Museum’s inaugural Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award is accepting submissions of portfolios from young writers who are currently attending high school (grades 9 – 12) in Alabama. Portfolios should contain literary works (stories, poems, plays or film scripts, multi-genre works) totaling 5 to 15 pages with font sizes no smaller than 12 point. Writers are encouraged to include works that are innovative in style, content, form, and/or technique. Literary works may include artwork, illustrations, font variations, and other graphic elements, but these elements should enhance the work, not simply decorate the page.
The submissions period is open from September 1 until December 31, 2020. Each student may only enter once.
Portfolios will be judged holistically, and only one award will be given. The recipient will be announced by March 15, 2021.
Submissions should be sent to fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com with “Zelda Fitzgerald Young Writers Award” in the subject line. The body of the email should contain the following relevant information: student’s full name, Alabama city/town of residence, and school attended. Due to issues of compatibility, portfolios should be attached as one PDF that contains all works. PDF files should be named with the author’s first initial [dot] last name [underscore] ZeldaPortfolio. For example, R.Jones_ZeldaPortfolio.pdf.
This year’s judge for the award is Josef Vice. Born and educated in Alabama, Vice has taught for 36 years at both the high school and university levels. He currently is a Professor and Course Lead at Purdue University Global. His research and writing interests include Southern literature and modern poetry, and he has published articles and book chapters on Composition and Rhetoric, the poetry of W.H. Auden, and gender and modern culture.
For more information about the Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award, contact the Fitzgerald Museum or contest coordinator Foster Dickson at fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com.