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From an unemployed new college graduate to a freelance Web designer to a speechwriter and a Getty fellow, the writing contest winners' r鳵m鳠are as diverse as their perspectives on 2001, the subject of our contest. This week, we run the winning nonfiction and poetry; the fiction selections will run in coming weeks. Thanks to everyone who entered, and we hope to see your face here next year.
POETRY WINNERS
1st Place
Peter H. Jackson, a native of Everett, is an Olympia-based speechwriter. At night, he is scribbling a novel that will one day, he says, collect coffee stains on the desk of an indifferent publisher.
2nd Place
Ryan Tomas Flynn moved to Seattle four months ago with an expectant wife after having spent the past seven years in the western Pacific and western Europe. In this 120 days, he says, an average of 10 job-search rejections a day before his morning coffee is not an exaggeration. He says, "I'm humbled to win anything at this particular moment in my life, especially if money is attached. In what is my first foray into the world of published poetry at the ripe age of 30, perhaps it's a sign of good things to come."
3rd Place
Mercedes Lawry, director of media and public relations at Bastyr University, has been publishing poetry for nearly 30 years in such journals as Poetry, Fine Madness, Seattle Review, and Switched-on Gutenberg and has received awards from the Seattle Arts Commission, Artist Trust, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. She's also published fiction and stories for children.
Honorable Mention
Genevieve Johnson was born and raised in Alaska. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2000 and immediately (and thankfully) moved back to the West Coast. She is looking for work.
NONFICTION WINNERS
1st Place
Daniel Jaeger was born in Boston in 1972 to German parents. They returned to Germany when he was 2 months old, where Jaeger studied forestry and visual communication and film before deciding to visit the U.S. last summer. He decided to stay in Seattle and now does freelance film work and Web design.
2nd Place
After launching Pencil Boy Productions in June 2001, Peter T.O. Meddick has worked as a contract copywriter with Girvin Strategic Branding and Design and Terry Marks Design.
FICTION WINNERS
1st Place
A freelance illustrator in Seattle, Robert Rini recently showed his work at Roq la Rue Gallery. When not painting, he works on his novel or plays guitar in the garage band the Simpletones. His day jobs have included radio news writer, community organizer, and security guard at the Henry. He also operated the Big Machines at the Mail Annex, the setting for his story, "Secrets."
2nd Place
Jerry Cavanaugh shares a birthday with O. Henry, D.H. Lawrence, Kristy McNichol, and Moby. He studied biology at a small Eastern college and, among other pursuits, has worked as a veterinary assistant, museum exhibit developer, and copywriter. He lives in Seattle and has yet to publish in major magazines.
2nd Place
Stacy D. Flood lives in Redmond. He has studied and taught creative writing at San Francisco State University and received a Getty Fellowship for his work.
3rd Place
Since moving to Seattle from Littleton, Colo., in 1999, Adam Wilson has come to love this city and its life. He is pursuing an English literature degree at the University of Washington and working on a pair of novels that apparently cannot be completed.
