NLC literary contest winners announced

The League for Innovation, comprised of 20 community college districts throughout the nation, conducts an annual literary competition in each district at the end of February. Dr. Nancy Castilla, English professor, organizes North Lake College’s entries, and two of those will represent the district at the national level of competition.

At the North Lake level, the winners in poetry were: first place, Prabin Maharjan, “The Ghost;” second place, Lucien Rene Nanton, “Riptide;” third place, Reese D. Belew, “Complexity;” and honorable mention, Allen Powell, “Dry.”

In the short story category, the winners were: first place, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, “Sweet Revenge;” second place, Lucien Rene Nanton, “Raggedy Man;” third place, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, “The Catcher;” and honorable mention, Lucien Rene Nanton, “Bereft.”

In the personal essay category, first place was awarded to Lucien Rene Nanton, “Lamentation of the Dying;” second place, Susan LeBlanc, “Gentleman’s Agreement;” third place, Jenny Hawkins, “Hungry for More;” and two honorable mention winners, Andy Mendoza, “A Learning Experience;” and Yi Kyung Angela Byun, “Diversity: Unfamiliar but Valuable.”

Two awards were given in the one-act play category: first place, Lucien Rene Nanton, “The Voice of Reason;” and Allen Powell, “You Do Want the Girls to Like You.”

Four of the North Lake entries made it to the district level: Prabin Maharjan, “The Ghost,” third place; Liese Sherwood-Fabre, “Sweet Revenge,” first place; Lucien Rene Nanton, “Lamentation of the Dying,” first place; and Lucien Rene Nanton, “The Voice of Reason,” second place.

The two first place district winners, Liese Sherwood-Fabre and Lucien Rene Nanton, will advance to the national level.