My short story, "Fried Chicken Talks" won the first prize award in the Pleasanton Poetry, Prose, and Arts Festival this April. I won first prize last year too for "Leaving Jersey" and a second first place award for my non-fiction short story "The Principal's Principles". This year I didn't enter a non-fiction piece.
Submissions are anonymous. The judge this time was Richard Dry, a Las Positas College instructor, and I was happy to meet him Saturday at the festival. He signed his book, "Leaving", for me and we chatted about it. I appreciated the family tree he had in the front and how he hooked the reader to figure out who was speaking to the prisoners at Santa Rita that he wrote in a few chapters interspersed among the others. We don't find out until the end. The story spans several generations. I recommend it.
He said he chose my story because he felt he was there, in it, which he didn't feel in the other submissions.
The workshops were outstanding, especially those taught by Susan Wooldridge, Susan Browne, and Gerald Haslam. Save the date for next year, April 2-3.
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Brava, Julaina! Congratulations on your first place win!
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