Above: Terry Pollard, assistant professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, will be the keynote speaker at the 2016 Creative Writing Awards Ceremony. Pollard, a former MGCCC instructor, introduced the student journal, “illumination,” during the early 2000s.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will hold its annual Creative Writing Awards Ceremony on April 14, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. at the Jefferson Davis Campus Arena Theatre. First-place winners will read portions of their winning entries during the ceremony and Terry Pollard, assistant professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, will be the keynote speaker. A reception will follow the ceremony.

“We look forward every year to celebrating our students’ successes in the area of creative writing,” said Dr. Vernon LaCour, Language Arts Department chair at the Jefferson Davis Campus.  “This year in particular we are commemorating 50 years for the Jefferson Davis and Jackson County campuses so we would like to invite past participants of the contest to join us in honoring MGCCC students for their achievements.”

Pollard teaches courses in writing and health education in the School of Health Related Professions. As the director for Instructional Development and Distance Learning, he consults with faculty in the development, design, and evaluation of online programs. He is the author of a forthcoming chapter in the “Handbook of Research on Building, Growing, and Sustaining Quality E-Learning Programs” that discusses how institutions can garner faculty and administrative commitment to strive for—and meet—national benchmarks in online education. Prior to his time at UMMC, Mr. Pollard served as the Director of Training and Professional Development for the Mississippi Virtual Community College at the Mississippi Community College Board. Currently a doctoral student at the University of Mississippi, Pollard aims to initiate a linguistic study of student writing across allied health programs in Mississippi in order to strengthen the research literature of the Community of Inquiry framework. Aside from the field of distance education, Mr. Pollard’s strongest interest lay at the crossroads of writing, illustrating, storytelling, and publishing. While an instructor at MGCCC, Pollard and other faculty and students conceptualized and published the student journal, “illumination,” in the early 2000s. The journal is still being published today to showcase the college’s top talent.

Free-Verse Poetry winners are “Visions of the Somme” by Sylvia Shannon, of Union, Mississippi, first place; “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Wildflower” by Morgan Dugger, of Eight Mile, Alabama, second place; and “Blue” by Malarie Torres, of Perkinston, third place.

Structured-Verse Poetry winners are “Music to My Ears” by Madison Sumrall, of Perkinston, first place; “Making Allowances” by Sylvia Shannon, of Union, Mississippi, second place; and “My Pet Rabbit” by Katie Peterson, of Gulfport, third place.

Personal Essay winners are “The Unveiling” by Keionna Harmon, of Bay St. Louis, first place; “A Healing Process” by Lauren Sanders, of Bay St. Louis, second place; and “The Magic of Being Read To” by Abby Plowman, of Lucedale, third place.

Critical Essay winners are “Eugene and Caleb against the World: An Ethnography” by Sharita Amaker, of Biloxi, first place; “Sociological Criticism of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’” by Robert Silvernail, of Biloxi, second place; and “Critical Essay of Chris Semansky’s “Critical Essay on ‘Theme for English B’” by Jade Nguyen, of Biloxi, third place.

Short Story winners are “Side Order and Bacon” by Megan Wilson, of Biloxi, first place; “The Decision” by Abby Plowman, of Lucedale, second place; and “Red on Brown” by Parker Bond, of Perkinston, third place.

Judges for the contest are from The University of Southern Mississippi Department of English. The judges are Kelli Sellers, instructor of English, Personal Essay category; Dr. Nicolle Jordan, associate professor of English, Critical Essay category; Andrew Milward, assistant professor of English, Free-Verse Poetry category; Alan Purdie, a Ph.D. candidate in English, Structured-Verse Poetry category; and Dr. Louis Di Leo, visiting instructor of English, Short Story category.

The ceremony is free and open to the public. Copies of “illumination,” the annual Creative Writing Awards anthology of the winners’ works, will be available for purchase.