2013 Short Story Contest Winners
Winners of the 12th Annual Short Story Contest Announced
Winning Entries were read at the January 8 Meeting of the Ventura County Writers Club
(Ventura, CA - January 14, 2013) A festive evening celebrating the six top winners of the 13th Annual Ventura County Writers Club Short Story Contest took place January 8 at the club's monthly meeting in Camarillo. Each winning entry was read to the audience following the presentation of awards and the readings. There were over 100 entries in the contest, many from around the country. This was the first year for a new Youth Category, for young people under 18 years of age.
Both first place stories were published in the January 13 edition of the Ventura County Star. Adult winner, Dallas Woodburn of Ventura was the only winner not present. She is currently finishing her MFA at Purdue University. Three editors at the newspaper acted as the final judges, selecting the three cash winners and three honorable mentions. The second and third place stories will be available on the VC Star's website and on the VCWC website. The winners are:
Adult Winners: (from left) Giselle Lumas, Pat Caloia, Karen Gorback and Shlomo Kreitzer
ADULT CATEGORY
First Place: Dallas Woodburn of Ventura for "Slowly, Slowly, Without Much Notice"
Second Place: Karen Gorback of Thousand Oaks for "Dancing with Dreams"
Third Place: Shlomo Kreitzer of Camarillo for "Message from Sharon"
Honorable Mentions:
Mal King of Santa Paula for "Weathering the Storm"
Patricia Caloia of Ventura for "Revenge"
Giselle Lumas of Simi Valley for "Truth or Dare"
First Place: Dallas Woodburn of Ventura for "Slowly, Slowly, Without Much Notice"
Second Place: Karen Gorback of Thousand Oaks for "Dancing with Dreams"
Third Place: Shlomo Kreitzer of Camarillo for "Message from Sharon"
Honorable Mentions:
Mal King of Santa Paula for "Weathering the Storm"
Patricia Caloia of Ventura for "Revenge"
Giselle Lumas of Simi Valley for "Truth or Dare"
Youth winners from left: Angelina Martin, Grace O'Toole and Sarah Redner
YOUTH CATEGORY (stories to be posted soon)
First Place: Grace O'Toole at student at Newbury Park High School for "Colorblind"
Second Place: Angelina Martin a student at Nordhoff High School, Ojai for "Inherently Human"
Third Place: Sarah Redner a student at Newbury Park High School for "A Journey Through Shades of Grey"
Honorable Mentions:
Max Morales at student at Villanova Preparatory School won all three honorable mentions for "The Date," "Constellation," and "The Last Look in Their Eyes"
"We welcome the public to celebrate our local winners," said Kate Sexton, President of VCWC. "Each year the crowd grows as the community comes out to welcome our winners and listen to their winning short stories. The club appreciates the continued support of The Ventura County Star, for judging the finalists and publishing the winning stories.
