Hurston/Wright Names Winners of Annual College Writing Competition

by Frederick H. Lowe
Read Original Article Here (The NorthStar News & Analysis)

The Hurston/Wright Foundation on Monday named the winner and the two finalists of its annual award for college writers.

Justin Campbell, a graduate teaching fellow studying creative writing at Loyola Marymount University, was named the 2013 Hurston/Wright Foundation winner for an excerpt from his novel Sitting on the Knees of God.

The novel, which takes place in the 1920s, is about a jazz musician who moves from Alabama to Harlem and the differences he experiences in the two black communities, Campbell tells The NorthStar News & Analysis.

“It is a real honor to win the award,” Campbell added. “The foundation’s lineage is great, and I am honored to be a part of a community of great black writers and great writers period.”

Campbell lives with his wife and child in Whittier, Calif.

Samantha Mallory, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English at Tennessee State University, and Cary Williams, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in history, literature, African- and African-American studies at Harvard, were named finalists.

The foundation selected Williams for her short story My Street and Mallory for her short story Ren.

Three writers received honorable mention: They are Sanderia Smith, Essence Ward and Alyss Dixson. The foundation recognized Smith for an excerpt from her novel Mourning Beach. Ward also was recognized for an excerpt from her novel The Lynching.

The Hurston/Wright Foundation acknowledged Dixson for her short story Palestine.

The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award for College Writers was established by novelist Marita Golden to honor excellence in fiction writing by African-American undergraduate and graduate students. Golden cofounded the Hurston/Wright Foundation in 1990 with Clyde McElvene.

The winners are selected for the best unpublished short story or novel excerpt. They will be recognized during the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Ceremony on Oct. 25, 2013, at the Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C.