The Morris Museum of Art Announces the Winners of The 2010 Porter Fleming Literary Competition

The Morris Museum of Art has announced ten winners of the 2010 Porter Fleming Literary Competition, an important regional contest that recognizes talented amateur and professional writers who reside in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This year, more than three hundred entries in four categories—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and playwriting—were submitted.

This competition, funded by the Porter Fleming Foundation and administered by the Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County, was established in 1993. The Porter Fleming Foundation was established by Berry Fleming in 1963 as a memorial to his father, Porter Fleming, a prominent Augustan and one of the city’s leading philanthropists.

“The Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County are honored to have sponsored the literary competition since its founding by Augusta author and artist Berry Fleming,” said Cobbs Nixon, a Trustee of the Academy of Richmond County. “Our hope is that this competition will foster more great writers within our city, state, and region.”

“We are, of course, very pleased to be associated in this important endeavor with our friends at the Porter Fleming Foundation,” said Kevin Grogan, director of the Morris Museum of Art. “The region’s literature is an unusually rich component of the culture of the South. It offers us another means of achieving understanding of the region and its people, just as the visual arts, music, and dance do.”

This year’s winners will be honored at an Awards Ceremony Saturday, September 25, at 5:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Morris Museum of Art. It is a highlight of Augusta’s annual Westobou Festival, a celebration of the arts held from September 16 through 25. All winners are invited to participate in a special literary program during the Awards Ceremony in The Morris Museum of Art Auditorium.

Fiction:

National Judge John Bridges, Author and Award-Winning Columnist and Editor

First Place ($1,000) Tom Turner, Augusta, GA – “Burnt Sugar”
Second Place ($500) Gary Carden, Sylva, NC – “Arsenic and Quince”
Third Place ($250) Paul Byall, Savannah, GA – “You Are In My Power”

Non-Fiction:

National Judge John Winters, Award-Winning Author, Columnist and Editor
First Place ($1,000) Bonnie Arndt, Jacksonville, FL – “Rhubarb”
Second Place ($500) Elizabeth Estes, Lincolnton, GA – “Becoming a Pragmatist”
No Third Place Winner

Poetry:

National Judge Dr. James Smith, Associate Professor, the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Associate Editor of The Southern Poetry Review.

First Place ($1,000) Barbara G. S. Hagerty, Charleston, South Carolina,
“The Swimmer”
Second Place ($500) Mary Alice Sharpe, Anderson, South Carolina
“The Mailman (retired) and I
No Third Place Winner

Playwriting:

National Judge Allan Gurganus, Award-Winning Author, Playwright and Teacher

First Place ($1,000) Richard Davis, Augusta, Georgia
“Sounds of the Sea in Her Little Shell Ear”
Second Place ($500) Peter DuPuis, Charleston, South Carolina
“Hail Mary”
Third Place ($250) Jonathan Cook, Martinez, Georgia
“Close to Home”