Winners of Northeast Iowa Community College Writing Contest announced

Friday, May 3, 2019

Twelve students at the Northeast Iowa Community College’s Peosta and Calmar campuses have been selected as winners of the annual NICC Writing Contest.

Peosta and Dubuque Center students could enter original nonfiction essays in two categories. Entries must have been written for any NICC class during the 2018-2019 academic year. A panel of three judges considered all entries anonymously.

This year’s writing contest was judged by Lawrence Kruse, writing center instructor (retired), James Maddox, communications faculty (retired) and James Brimeyer, communications faculty (retired). Students with first place winning entries received a $50 gift card. All six student writers were honored at a luncheon banquet.

Peosta Winners

Long Essays

1st place: “A Home Away From Home” by Henry Tran, of Dubuque

Honorable mention: “Backstage Fright” by Amy Schaepe, of Dubuque

Honorable mention: “The Garbageman” by Nolan Wagner, of Dubuque

Short Essays

1st place: “My Hero, Hamilton” by Erica Voss, of Edgewood

Honorable mention: “NYC: My Greatest Accomplishment” by John Powel, of Asbury

Honorable mention: “Lakeside Confession” by Joseph Clark, of Dubuque

At the Calmar campus, students could enter original prose or poetry. Entries were judged based upon creativity, originality, organization, word choice, flow, grammar and spelling. Winners received gift cards and a luncheon banquet in their honor. Learning Center faculty at each campus organized the contest.

Calmar Winners

Prose

1st place: “A Time of Change” by Danette Franzen, of Ossian

2nd place: “A Stitch, a Clip, and a Patch: Easy Peasy” by Molly Kelley, of Waukon

Honorable Mention: “The Lady” by Christina Timp, of Winthrop

Poetry

1st place: “Window” by Tyler Dintaman, of Decorah

2nd place: “Red” by Helen Neuzil, of Calmar

Honorable Mention: “Where I’m From” by Madalyn Palmer, of Waukon

Congratulations to these student writers and to all students who submitted entries to this year’s NICC Writing Contest.