Winners named in Arts Council’s writing competition

Source Article: the Paris Post-Intelligencer

Little did Annette French Hall realize that her lifelong enjoyment of writing and her love for her hometown would lead to her receiving the Judge’s Choice top honors in the Paris-Henry County Arts Council’s Writing Competition.

As a salute to Henry County’s Bicentennial, the contest theme was historical fiction. Hall’s entry, “Addie’s First Adventure” was set in Mansfield and encompassed research at the Henry County archives and help from local historian Wayne Webb. She recalls a time when she won another contest for her writing — a Father’s Day poem composed with words found in The P-I.

“As I recall, to enter the contest, a person had to find all the misspelled words in the newspaper and then write the poem with the correct spelling.”

Along with Hall, contest winners were Eugene Gulish, first place, “The Sniper”; Paige Craig, second place, “The Silents of Dunlap Street”; Susan White, third place, “Sulphur Well Swamp.” Gulish and White are both repeat winners from last year’s contest.

Gulish, the late orthopedic surgeon, credited the inspiration for his winning story to a chance encounter with a former patient.

“I walked out of my house one morning to find a large pickup truck sitting in my yard. Out of the truck came a man who introduced himself as a fellow military veteran and wanted simply to chat with me. He also informed me that many years ago I had taken the shrapnel out of his left shoulder which he had acquired when serving in Afghanistan. The conversation was jumbled until we got to his service in Afghanistan, and his story was riveting. There was no doubt in my mind I had to write this story. Although this had to be a fictional character, fiction is often based on fact. He is a kind and generous man with a significant disability with his PTSD. His Afghan stories are breathtaking. He was truly a hero.”

The four stories mentioned above will be published in The P-I, starting with Gulish’s story on Page 7 today.

All the stories submitted to this year’s competition can be read on the Arts Council’s website: www.phcarts.com.

Read all stories here: www.phcarts.com/writing-competition