Ron Rash, a guest judge for the contest and author of One Foot in Eden, among other stories, announced the winners of the University Fiction Awards last night.
“This was one of the hardest to decide pile of stories that we’ve had…It’s getting tougher and tougher to win this thing,” Wilton Barnhardt , English department professor, said.
The winner of the James Hurst Prize, which was for longer short stories, was Ashlee Crews from Durham, N.C . who wrote “Church Time.” Crews is a teacher in Chapel Hill. Honorable mentions went to Stacey Cochran’s “Eddie & Sunny” and G.J . Ville’s “Lifestyles of the Bored and Aimless.” There were 11 finalists in this category.
The winner of the short-short stories was Julia Patt , graduate student in creative writing at UNC Greensboro, with “Boy Come Home.” An honorable mention went to Mesha Maren from Asheville, N.C . who wrote “Eminent Domain.” There were ten finalists from this category.
The undergraduate prize went to Corbie Hill, a junior in English at N.C . State, who wrote the short story “Cody.”
“It feels very gratifying. I came back to school to be a writer…I wrote for The Independent, so that’s already published, but I’ve been trying really hard to get my fiction out in the world, and this has been the first thing I view as a success,” Hill said.
Hill was very excited to receive the award.
“I’m excited, honored, and honestly a little overwhelmed,” Hill said.
Ron Rash, who helped select the winners, took the stage next. He has published four novels, three poetry collections, and four short story collections. Currently, he is a professor at Appalachian State in cultural studies.
From Burning Bright, Rash read his short stories “The Scent” and “Waiting for the End of the World.” From his poetry collection, he read “Sleepwalking” and “3am the stars were out.”
“I really liked it. I mean, my story was exceptionally dark, and I like how he didn’t shy away from darkness. His language was, I don’t even know how to say it. I’m still fresh to his work, so I’m not sure I can accurately portray why it works for me, but I’m already a fan, and I’m going to read more,” Hill said.
Rash recently published a new poetry collection called Waking and received the Governor’s Award.
“The work of someone like Ron Rash has the power to change your life. He is a literary great,” Jill McCorkle , English department professor, said. “[His writing is] acutely personal and widely universal.”
