AWF gratefully acknowledges the 2025 High School Literary Arts Awards Judges:

CREATIVE NONFICTION: Jay Lamar has written and edited for scholarly, professional, and public-interest publications for almost 30 years. She is co-editor (with Jennifer Horne) of Old Enough: Southern Women Artists and Writers on Creativity and Aging (University of Georgia Press, 2024) and (with Jeanie Thompson) of The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers (University of Alabama Press, 2003). Jay served as the executive director of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission (2014-2022). Prior to that, she was director of Special Programs for the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies and managing editor of Auburn Speaks, an annual publication of the Office of the Vice President for Research at Auburn University. From 2000-2009, she was director of the Alabama Center for the Book, the state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. She is a native of Alabama.

FICTION: Kent Quaney is the author of the novel, One Breath from Drowning (University of Wisconsin Press), winner of the Brodie Award for fiction in 2022. His short stories and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review, BULL, Literally Stories, RiversEdge, and other journals. He studied creative writing at the University of Sydney and the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers and is currently Creative Writing Coordinator and managing editor of Thirteen Bridges Review at Auburn University Montgomery.

LITERARY MAGAZINE: Jeanie Thompson, founding director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, is a published poet, essayist, editor, and arts education advocate. She has published five collections of poetry: The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller, The Seasons Bear Us, White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems, Witness, and How to Enter the River. She co-edited The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers, with Jay Lamar. Her poems, interviews with writers, and critical articles have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Jeanie holds the MFA from the University of Alabama, where she was founding editor of the literary journal Black Warrior Review. Jeanie has received Individual Artist fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. She teaches as an adjunct poetry faculty member in the Naslund-Mann School of Writing at Spalding University, a low-residency MFA Writing Program. In 2024 Jeanie was awarded the Albert B. Head Legacy Award from the Alabama State Council on the Arts for her work in Alabama literary arts.

POETRY: Jacqueline Allen Trimble is a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow (Poetry), a Cave Canem Fellow, and a two-time Alabama State Council on the Arts Literary Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Magazine, The Louisville Review, The Offing, and Poet Lore and has been featured by Poem of the Day, Poem-a-Day, and Poetry Daily. Published by NewSouth Books, American Happiness, her debut collection, won the 2016 Balcones Poetry Prize. Her new collection, How to Survive the Apocalypse, was named one of the ten best poetry books of 2022 by the New York Public Library, and she recently contributed the essay, “I Have Seen the Promised Land and It Is Me,” to Old Enough: Southern Women Artists and Writers on Creativity and Aging. Trimble is Professor of English and chairs the Department of Languages and Literatures at Alabama State University.

POETRY: Lauren Slaughter is a former NEA fellow in poetry, the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and author of the poetry collections, Spectacle (2022) and a lesson in smallness (2025). Her poems, essays, and short stories appear in Image, Harvard Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Pleiades, and 32 Poems, among many other places. She is a professor of English at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she is also Editor-in-Chief of NELLE, a literary journal that publishes writing focused on women and their experiences. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and three children. Find her online at www.laurenslaughter.com.

SENIOR PORTFOLIO SCHOLARSHIP: Donna Estill is Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences at Calhoun Community College. Estill has taught writing and literature to several generations of students in Arkansas, Kansas, and Alabama. She served as the Director and Assistant Director of the Alabama Center for Literary Arts in Monroeville, where she organized the Alabama Writers Symposium, and later served as Humanities Advisor for the Symposium. She is currently working with her mother on a book. A passionate advocate for literature and the arts, Estill continues to teach writing and literature often, while also finding new and exciting ways to bring other arts to the world. In her spare time she paints, makes jewelry, and spends time with her husband and family.

SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Avi Goldberg, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts, winner of the Ruth & Jay Ott Senior Portfolio Scholarship

Lily Tao, student of Michelle Hopf, Auburn High School, winner of the Mozelle Purvis Shirley Senior Portfolio Scholarship

Olivia Lekas, student of Brandy Panagos, Bob Jones High School, winner of the Wayne Greenhaw Memorial Senior Portfolio Scholarship

Nola Crumpton, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts, winner of the Joseph David Trimble II Senior Portfolio Scholarship

Anna Maske, student of Amy Marchino, Homewood High School, winner of the AWF Senior Portfolio Scholarship

Exceptional Literary Content:

Cadence (Alabama School of Fine Arts)

Editors: Mya Richardson (past), Nola Crumpton, Avi Goldberg, Ash Pierce, Jaid Sconiers, and Bete Slocum, students of Iris Rinke-Hammer

Prize: $150 to the magazine

Judge’s Special Recognition, Literary Content:

The Eclectic (Bob Jones High School)

Editor: Lily Shelton, student of Brandy Panagos

Additional Editors: Olivia Lekas, Carmen Hunderman, Elena Saorrano, Eric Joy, students of Brandy Panagos

Prize: $50 to the magazine

Exceptional Graphic Design and Layout:

The Eclectic (Bob Jones High School)

Editor: Lily Shelton, student of Brandy Panagos

Additional Editors: Olivia Lekas, Carmen Hunderman, Elena Saorrano, Eric Joy, students of Brandy Panagos

Prize: $150 to the magazine

Judge’s Special Recognition, Graphic Design and Layout:

Harmoniouslee (Lee High School Creative Writing Magnet)

Editors: Louise Block and Jude Copeland, students of Michelle Sisson

Additional Editors: Darianne Ewing, Anna Rhea McCombs, Ray Kendrick, Callie Pitsinos, Aliyah Potter, Luca Turner, students of Michelle Sisson

Prize: $50 to the magazine

Literary Magazine Certificates of Merit:

The Artisan (Briarwood Christian School)

Editor: Allison Anderson, student of Hannah Pressley

Additional Editor: Luke Long, student of Hannah Pressley

Ingenium (Aurora) (McGill-Toolen Catholic High School)

Editors: Maggie Kohnen and Maggie Heller, students of Camille Johnston

Counterpane (Jefferson County International Baccalaureate High School)

Editor: Saniya Singh, student of April Sport

Additional Editor: Sofian Laouzai, student of April Sport

Sparkman Silhouette (Sparkman High School)

Editors: Lea McHenry (past) and William Perkins (past), students of Renee Quaife

The Writers’ Block (The Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop)

Editor: Dorianni Mendoza, student of Emmett Christolear

Additional Editors: Amber Carroll, Brooke Silas, Dania Alzoubi, Jett Waasa, and Mario Rodriguez, students of Emmett Christolear

Montgomery Press and Authors Club Award for Excellence in Essay Writing: Celeste Shurtz, student of Brandy Panagos, Bob Jones High School

First Place: Arya Desai, student of Kathleen Travis, Pelham High School

Second Place: Cooper Endejan, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Third Place: Zane Wright, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School

Creative Nonfiction Judge’s Certificates of Merit:

Hazel Pool, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Robert Grace-Bishop, student of Amy Marchino, Homewood High School

Willow Barkley, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School

Alessandra Cordova, student of Kathleen Travis, Pelham High School

Elizabeth Foret, student of Kathleen Travis, Pelham High School

Leah Thomas, student of Jon Carter, Restoration Academy

Makayla Palmore, student of Brantley White, Stanhope Elmore High School

First Place: Harris Murphree, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Second Place: Madeline Riseling, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School

Third Place: Kaiden Boykin, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Fiction Judge’s Certificates of Merit:

Nola Crumpton, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Ash Pierce, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Emma Blankenship, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Mairwen Jones, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

William Little, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Violet Marty, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Kennedi Parker, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Lily Wilson, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Rhiannon Kerndl, student of Brandy Panagos, Bob Jones High School

Madalyn Ward, student of Brandy Panagos, Bob Jones High School

Olivia Chang, student of Hannah Pressley, Briarwood Christian School

Emma Ann Jahraus, student of Hannah Pressley, Briarwood Christian School

Cole Jones, student of Hannah Pressley, Briarwood Christian School

Calyx Vandine-Grove, student of Michelle Sisson, Lee High School

First Place: Nola Crumpton, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Second Place: Alex Viles, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Third Place: Cooper Endejan, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Poetry Judges’ Certificates of Merit

Avi Goldberg, student of Iris Rinke-Hammer, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Ollie Caillier, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Violet Marty, student of TJ Beitelman, Alabama School of Fine Arts

Dariyona Barris, student of Michelle Hopf, Auburn High School

Chloe Summers, student of Hannah Pressley, Briarwood Christian School

Maggie Russell, student of Amy Marchino, Homewood High School

Peter Womack, student of Amy Marchino, Homewood High School

Emmaline Spensley, student of D’Anthony Allen, Indian Springs School

Kahina Laouzai, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate

Rachel Tucker, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate

Zane Wright, student of April Sport, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate

Darianne Ewing, student of Michelle Sisson, Lee High School

J.D., student of Marlin Barton, Lurleen B. Wallace School

T.B., student of Marlin Barton, Lurleen B. Wallace School

Jaaziel Alvarez-Alvarez, student of Rebecca Burnett, Pelham High School

Clea Collins, student of Rebecca Burnett, Pelham High School

Chloe Prosser, student of Rebecca Burnett, Pelham High School

Brenna Vickery, student of Rebecca Burnett, Pelham High School

Savannah Richards, student of Kathleen Travis, Pelham High School