Awards

2004 Prize Winners: Doreen Baingana, Ann Cochran, Lester Reingold and J.D. Smith (not present). Photo credit: Fred Dews and Paula J. Kelly

Washington Independent Writers (WIW), the nation's largest regional writers organization, awarded the 2004 Washington Writing Prizes to WIW members Doreen Baingana, Ann Cochran, Lester Reingold and J.D. Smith. The awards were announced at the 2004 Washington Writers Conference.

Begun by WIW in 2002 "to recognize the outstanding work of WIW members in the highly competitive freelance marketplace," the Washington Writing Prizes were first awarded in 2003. The competition is open to members in good standing in the categories of personal essay, poetry, reported nonfiction
article and short fiction.

• Baingana received the award for short fiction for "Tropical Fish," published in the African American Review.
  
  
• Cochran won the personal essay prize for "I'm Sorry to Tell YouThis…," published in Washingtonian.
  
  
• Reingold took the prize for reported article for "Great American Place: Dayton, Ohio," published in American Heritage.
  
  
• Smith won the poetry award for "Age-Old Complaint," published inThe Formalist.
  
  
• Roger Atwood received honorable mention in the reported article category for "Guardians of the Dead," published in Archaeology.

The awards were presented by former WIW Vice President and Washington Writing Prizes Committee Chair Beryl Lieff Benderly.

Winners were chosen by a panel of distinguished Washington writers, including Anne Cassidy, Jeff Richards, Mary Collins, Michele Wolf and Benderly. Eligible pieces were published between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2003, on a freelance basis in a print or electronic publication regularly distributed to the general public or to a controlled readership.

More information about WIW is available at www.washwriter.org or from the WIW office, 733 15th St. N.W., Suite 220, Washington, DC 20005, phone (202) 737-9500, fax (202) 638-7800, e-mail info.

WIW also sponsors an Internet-based Listserv e-mail discussion list, WIW-L. For a free subscription, send an e-mail message to listserv@cmich.edu and, in the body of the message, type “subscribe WIW-L your name” (without the quotation marks).

Read the full length award winning articles here