COLUMBIA, Mo. – Ten members of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild won awards yesterday evening at the MWG annual conference at Columbia’s Stoney Creek Inn.

• Barri Bumgarner, of Columbia, won second place in the Walter Williams Major Work Award competition for her novel, Dregs, and received honorable mention in the Best Poem category for “Open Window.”
• James F. Muench, of Columbia, won third place in the Best Book About Missouri category for Five Stars: Missouri’s Most Famous Generals.
• Von Pittman, of Columbia, won first place in the Best Short Story category for “Covering the Spread” and received honorable mention in the Flash Fiction category for “No Greater Crime.”
• Judith Stock, of Boonville, won second place in the best Science Fiction/Horror Short Story category for “Whose House” and received honorable mention in the Best Form Poem category for her Shakespearian sonnet, “Kaffeeklatsch.”
• Linda Fisher, of Sedalia, won second place in the Best Ghost Story or Tall Tale category for “A Man Called Rabbit,” second place in the Best Health Article category for “Writing As Therapy – Rocks and Pebbles” and second place in the Best Humorous Essay category for “Smarter Than the Box.”
• Jennifer Jiang, of Sturgeon, won third place in the Best Ghost Story or Tall Tale category for “A Dinosaur Goes By” and received second honorable mention in the Best Juvenile Book category for “The Rugged Road.”
• Bridget Bufford, of Columbia, won third place in the Best Form Poem category for her sestina, “November.”
• Sylvia Forbes, of Fayette, won second place in the Best Restaurant Review category for “Bingham’s: The Tradition Continues” and second place in the Best Historical Article category for “Home of the Brave.”
• Dianna O’Brien received first honorable mention in the Best Health Article category for “Barbara Rippel: A Last Request.”
• Eva Ridenour, of Armstrong, received second honorable mention in the Best Poem category for “Hunting Mushrooms.”
• In addition, Janice Coffman, of Columbia, earned special recognition for her design of the MWG seal that award-winning writers may place on their books.
  
  

The Early Onset Project seeks true stories about persons with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Early-onset Alzheimer’s or early-onset dementia develops in a person who is younger than age 65.

Entries should be compelling slice-of-life stories that show how early-onset Alzheimer’s or a related dementia has affected you or someone close to you. Authors of stories selected for the collection will receive a free copy of the publication. No other payment will be made. Stories submitted for The Early Onset Project are automatically entered into a contest. Submissions deadline has been extend to October 31, 2008.

First Prize - $100
Second Prize - $50
Third Prize – $25
Honorable Mention – $10

For a sample story and more information, please visit the Early Onset Project page on my website at www.lsfisher.com.

Linda Fisher
Alzheimer’s Anthology of Unconditional Love
www.lsfisher.com
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

Four members of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild have works included in Alzheimer’s Anthology of Unconditional Love: “It Wasn’t All Bad” by Ida Fogle, “Losing the Layers” by Shawnna Matteson, and “Sharing a Song” by Karen Heywood. The stories were collected and edited by CCMWG member, Linda Fisher, who wrote several informational articles and three stories, “The Watch,” “Gone in the Night” and “The Aftermath.” This is Fisher’s first book project.

Thirty-seven true stories give a voice to the 110,000 Missourians who have embarked upon an unwilling journey into an uncharted world toward a future different than the one they envisioned. It is the death of their dreams and plans, and the birth of unconditional love.

The stories capture the effect Alzheimer’s has on caregivers, sons, daughters, in-laws, friends, children, grandchildren, and healthcare workers. The collection includes two stories from persons diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. The writers range from a Pulitzer Prize nominee to unpublished authors.

Sponsors paid for the printing and cover design. All profits from the book will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association. Books will be available at the Mid-Missouri Chapter Memory Walks. For information about the Memory Walks or to order the book, call the Chapter office at 573-443-8665. Ordering information can be found at www.lsfisher.com.

Dregs explores the pitfalls of cliques and the ever-challenging game of popularity.

What’s it like to be at the bottom?
To see popularity from the outside and know something isn’t right?

“You don’t have to be a Dreg, Benson,” his teacher told him.
“It’s all a state of mind.”

Yeah, right! Benson Schmidt ain’t buyin’ it, because Colin, his older brother, is a God. A superstar in the halls, on the court, in life…Colin has it all. But Benson, a lowly seventh grader and a dreg in the social structure, launches Operation Cappuccino to try to show that the cream can’t rise to the top without a bottom.
Instead, he discovers that even the haves aren’t satisfied with status quo. Some are even willing to kill to avoid becoming a have-not.
Better to die than become a dreg…

author of the young adult novel Dregs, April 2007
Playing the Line, a prequel to 8 Days, summer 2007
Slipping, MWG's Best Fiction, 2005, Runner-Up
8 Days
"Retribution" in Mysteries of the Ozarks, Vol. II
www.barriLbumgarner.com

Eva Ridenour, aka Elizabeth Butler, has just announced that her latest novel Blue Light Special & Yellow Brick Road Collide is now released.

It's a contemporary romance set in Mid-Kansas and deals with small town survival when a discount center moves in nearby.  This will probably be her last novel written under the pen name of Elizabeth Butler as she has decided that she is going to use her real name for anything else she writes.