English students compete in annual Writers' Round Up

Charlie Clark was the grand prize winner of the 12th annual Writers’ Roundup Feb. 20 hosted by the Amarillo College English department.

Other winners were Sarah Green, first place in the sophomore division; Jessica Jackson, second place in the sophomore division; Juleah Nusz, first place in the freshman division; and Calvin Wilkinson, second place in the freshman division.

Joel Ruiz and Sarah McCullough were awarded first and second place in the developmental division.

“This year, the topic was snow,” said Angie Peoples, an administrative assistant in the English department. “Each student is allowed two hours to compete their composition.”

Any student enrolled in an English class was invited to participate in the contest with the chance to win up to $100.

“We always have a good mix of students, male and female and older students, which gives us more variety in the Roundup,” said Dan Rogers, a student worker in the English lab where the contest was conducted.

Three judges scored the compositions on a one-through-five scale, with five being the highest.

Ferguson said the competition is anonymous so that none of the judges know who wrote what.

The grand prize winner and the first place winners in each category will have their work published in The Freelancer, the annual magazine the English department publishes with written work by students and faculty.

Students are not limited in the style of their submissions and are judged more on content than on form, Ferguson said. It can be anything from short story to poems and anything in between.

With the turnout lower than expected this year, prizes also were given to each of the additional students who participated: Ann Morris, Kwaku Opoku, Michelle Vongkaysone, Doug Cundall and Kevin Coffey.

“In the past there have been close to 60 people entered,” Ferguson said.

Although the contest is open only to students registered in English classes, Ferguson said faculty members are considering opening it to all AC students next year.

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