Literary competition winners announced at Penn State York

Painting featuring art brushes titled "Brushes"

Mary Dizor, a Penn State York student, is the first-place winner in the visual arts category of the Penn State York Literary Competition for her piece, "Brushes," which is set to be the cover art for "Another Other Word," 12th edition.

Credit: Courtesy of artist Mary Dizor

YORK, Pa. — Creative expression has an outlet at Penn State York as students are being recognized for their work as part of the Penn State York Literary Competition, sponsored by the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center and Any Other Word (AOW), the campus’ online literary magazine.

“The competition was fierce, and I think everyone that participated really put their all into their submissions. I am extremely grateful to have been part of this process, and I want to say  'thank you' to everyone who brought their creativity to the table, and to The Pullo Center for sponsoring the event,” said Calvin Bellomo, an English major at Penn State York, the editor for AOW, and a judge for the competition along with Noel Sloboda, associate professor of English and adviser for the online magazine.

Three prizes are being awarded in three categories: short story, poetry and visual art (magazine cover art). Amazon gift cards are being awarded to each winner: $75 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

“We received some really rich poetry that paired well with several of the visual art winners, and in an effort to better highlight that dynamic, we decided to make this year's edition of AOW entirely poetry and visual art,” Bellomo said. “This way we can feature more of the really wonderful poems and works of art that were submitted. There are a few honorable mentions in each category and even 'almost ties' for first, second and third place for each category. Without giving the entire game away, we are excited for a successful publication this spring, issue No. 12 of Any Other Word.”

Winners in their categories are:

Visual Art

Mary Dizor, “Brushes” – first place

Bryce Thoman, “Laughing Gull Sunset” – second place

Mallory Kurnik, “Untitled Painting” – third place

Carson Kratzer, “The Northern Face” – honorable mention

Short Story

Nhi Nguyen, “Greyscale Regime” – first place

Rachel Wojnarski, “Paradise or Purgatory” – second place

Sophie Cummings, “The Writer” – third place

Percy Chowdhury, “An Unknown Road” – honorable mention

Poetry

Isabel Jungclaus, “Woodward” – first place

Ben Levalley, “Cautious Honesty” – second place

Mallory Kurnik, “.mad” – third place

Max Humphris, “Picasso: Self Portrait”  – honorable mention

Selected works will be published in the upcoming issue of AOW, which will feature Mary Dizor’s work, “Brushes,” as the cover art.

The Pullo Center has supported student creative work for several years and has helped to provide the prizes for the contest. Work published in Any Other Word is selected by its editors, who read all entries submitted and make selections; the student adviser has the final say on what is published. All authors retain full copyrights of their works.

The publication takes its name from the quote by William Shakespeare, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” To learn more and to read previous issues, visit the Any Other Word website.

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