Delizon Annual Short Story Competition Results

2012/2013

1. 'Proper preparation' by HS Derkin - First Place

H. Scott Derkin, winner of this year's prestigious Delizon Annual Short Story Competition lives and works in Toledo, Ohio; hard by the Western shore of Lake Erie, where he docks his sail boat.

He and Carol, the wife of his youth, reside in a shabby but neat city loft with their dog Dylanbob, a scruffy miniature poodle mix.

In the time not taken up by working, writing and sailing, Derkin might be found playing drums for local blues, country and rock bands.

Author’s blog: hsderkin.com

2. 'Blind love' by Diane de Pisa - Second Place

Diane de Pisa (nee MacQuarrie) grew up on Prince Edward Island, Canada, completed high school in Santa Barbara, and now lives near Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (English, Italian, French) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a dissertation on metaphysical themes in Black Elk Speaks, chaired by N. Scott Momaday and funded by a Ford Foundation grant in Ethnic Studies. She served five years as Assistant Professor of English at Loyola University of Chicago and has taught English and Italian at UC Berkeley and several community colleges.

3. 'The trip' by Ray Beard - Third Place

Ray Beard lives in Perth, a city of two million located on the sunny south west coast of Western Australia. His day job is developing internet technology including products designed to benefit print publishers – hard copy and digital. He is a newcomer to writing, with The Trip being his first short story entry. Current writing activities include putting the final touches to a novel, screenplay and an illustrated book for kids that will also appeal to broadminded adults.

The 4th to 10th position below received a cash award of $60 specified as per last year’s award offer.

4. 'Suicide or Not' by Jim Swenson

Jim Swenson, 56, Dubuque, Iowa. I am the features editor at the Telegraph Herald, previously the sports editor. I have worked in the newspaper business since graduating from the University of Wisconsin, my home state, in 1979.

In 2011, I wrote a daily blog called Swen's Tens - it's at sighguyposts.blogspot.com

5. 'Why Gretel finally gave up on rescuing Hansel' by Lucy Bacon

Lucy Bacon. Born: Birmingham, England (1950's population ca. 2,000,000). Current residence: Holstein, Ontario, Canada (2013 population ca. 250). Many different places and experiences in between. I was given my first typewriter (manual, portable) in 1959. So it seems I must have been composing stories at an early age.

6. 'Gilberto or a parallel universe' by Grace Babakhanian

Holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Illinois. Taught there and at Eastern Illinois University. Was for many years writer/producer and arts commentator and critic for public radio & TV stations in Central Illinois. Has published articles and reviews in Dance Magazine, Variety and Kirkus Reviews, as well as local newspapers and magazines in Illinois. Has blogged on Huffington Post and written a short non-fiction piece that appears in the Spring edition of Persimmon Tree, an online literary magazine. Currently working on a novel-in-stories, Growing Up in Yorkville. This will be her first story published.

7. 'Stalagmites' by Cheryl L Reed

Cheryl L. Reed is an author and former journalist. Though she has lengthy publishing credits in nonfiction, including her literary nonfiction book Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns (Berkley/Penguin) www.nunsunveiled.com, she is just starting to collect fiction publications

Author’s non-fiction at www.nunsunveiled.com

8. 'Coffee caste' by Deborah Price

Deborah Huth Price lives in Loveland, Colorado and is an environmental educator in nearby Fort Collins. She contributes a monthly article to the Loveland Reporter-Herald on wildlife research projects in the area, and has published a variety of feature articles for other newspapers and magazines.

Author's website: www.writeprice.net

9. 'Indescribable' by Lori Martinez, Texas

I am a native Hoosier who has been living in Texas for about 20 years with my husband and four children. For most of those years, I was a high school math teacher. In the spring of 2011, I was laid off along with hundreds of other teachers in the Houston area

My Facebook page at facebook.com/lmarti69

10. 'Fear' by Carolyn Kirshner

Carolyn Kirschner was born in San Luis Obispo, CA and currently resides in Las Vegas, NV. She is married to her high school sweetheart and has two daughters, Liberty and Honour. Aside from being a wife, mother, writer, and having a full time accounting job, she also enjoys riding her horse, discovering new music, watching movies, and spending time with her two dogs.

Author’s non-fiction at facebook.com/ckirschnerbooks

Gift Certificates

'On Paper' by Maude Larke, 'Don't Feed the Bums' by Jennifer Shephard, 'The Long December' by Fallon Keplinger and a few others also merited a gift certificate.

• Maude Larke is back to her own writing after working in the American, English and French university systems, analyzing others' texts and films.
• "I am so grateful that someone besides my mom liked one of my stories!" - Jennifer Shephard

This year we were able to give a feedback to all entrees; this is not always easy when there are hundreds of entries. If you entered the competition and did not hear from us, please email us at contest@delizonpublishers.com. It has been a great year and we will do our best to promote these short stories and see to it that this contest remains a great experience

You can read the stories in the Short Stories section of our website