WAUKESHA – Jennifer Stevens, a 2004 graduate of Sussex Hamilton High School who just finished her first year of college at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, has been rewarded for pursuing her interest in creative writing. She received the 2005 August Derleth award.
The 18-year old admits that “I always wanted to [do creative writing], but I only wrote for class assignments before” she enrolled in a creative writing course her freshman year at UW-Waukesha. “Now I’m doing it more often.”
Students were invited to submit up to 15 pages of stories or poems in April, and a panel of five from the UW Colleges English department judged the work and offered the $250 prize, funded by the August Derleth Society. For the competition, Stevens wrote two short stories, one about an elderly woman suffering from dementia and the other about two brothers who are in a car accident together. The money will help her continue her studies, she says.
A prolific Wisconsin writer, Derleth published his first work among some 150 in 1931 and his last, posthumously, in 1996. Born is Sauk City in 1909, he remained in the area until his death in 1971. Richard Fawcett, a Connecticut school administrator, founded the August Derleth Society in 1978 to keep alive the memory of the writer, publisher, editor, columnist, naturist, environmentalist and teacher. The Society established an August Derleth Prize for writing at UW-Madison and another, about 10 years ago, for students attending the UW Colleges.
UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore UW Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at (262) 521-5200 or visit the Web at waukesha.uwc.edu.
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