Awards

Mayo, Stoddard, Tarallo and Taylor Take 2007 Washington Writing Prizes

By Beryl Lieff Benderly, Washington Writing Prize Committee Chair

All photos courtesy of Alice M. Starcke/AMS Photos Award winner C.M. Mayo

Award winner Brooke Stoddard

Award winner David Taylor

Award winner Mark Tarallo and Awards chair Beryl Lieff Benderly

WIW members C.M. Mayo, Brooke C. Stoddard, Mark Tarallo and David A. Taylor received the 2007 Washington Writing Prizes at the awards reception that culminated the Washington Writers Conference on June 9. Winners received plaques and the plaudits of their peers in the annual competition honoring freelance work by WIW members. Mayo, a previous winner in both the poetry and personal essay categories, was again honored in the personal essay category. Stoddard took the prize in advertising/promotion. Having both received honorable mentions the previous year, this year Taylor won first place for the reported nonfiction category and Tarallo for both the short fiction and newsletter categories. Michael J. Weiss received honorable mention in reported nonfiction.

The judging committee praised Mayo’s “complex and evocative” essay, “From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion,” published in Massachusetts Review for “artfully combining history, biography, speculation and personal experience to provide an illuminating insight into both the creative process and the life of an intriguing historical figure.” To read Mayo’s winning personal essay, “From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion,” click here.

Stoddard won the judging committee’s admiration for the “evident effort and craftsmanship” that went into his “Describing Origins and Ideologies of the American Revolution.” To see Stoddard’s award-winning work, click here.

Taylor’s “Fearsome Roots in a Quiet Forest,” which appeared in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and was excerpted from his recently published book Ginseng: The Divine Root. The judging committee described Taylor’s work as “nonfiction of the highest order” using “elegant prose…to combine compelling reportage with vivid, arresting imagery [and derive] profound insights from something small and seemingly unimposing: the ginseng plant.” Click here to read Taylor’s award-winning piece.

The “seductive language” and “finely wrought” descriptions of Tarallo’s short story, “Don Quixote in New Jersey,” published in Red Mountain Review, impressed the judging committee, as did his “well-written, comprehensive and well-presented” Arlington Newsletter, which “presents important information that will help [readers] run their businesses better.” To read Tarallo’s short story, “Don Quixote of New Jersey,” click here, and to read the Arlington Newsletter, click here.

Weiss received honorable mention for“The Agony of Victory," published in Reader's Digest.

The judging committee consisted of Joseph A. Barbato, James McGrath Morris, Alan Portner, Lester Reingold, Jeff Richards, Linda Thornburg and Michele Weiss and was chaired by Beryl Lieff Benderly, who made the awards ceremony presentation. The 2008 Washington Prize competition is open to all WIW members and will be announced in fall 2007.

Read the full length award winning articles here

Read the 2006 award-winning work

Read the 2005 award-winning work

Read the 2004 award-winning work

Read the 2003 award-winning work