Persuasions #11, 1989 Page 21 The
Second Annual JASNA Literary Competition MARY
GAITHER MARSHALL Canada
ruled the
Second Annual JASNA Literary Competition, with three of the four
winners. The
finalists, announced at the AGM in Santa Fe in October, were Lorraine
Copland,
Vancouver, B.C. (Second year student at the University of British
Columbia);
Darcy Dreher, Powell, Ohio (Junior at Ohio State University); Yin Liu,
Edmonton,
Alberta (First year student at the University of Alberta); and Alberto
Rubio,
Richmond, B.C. (Second year student at the University of British
Columbia). The
Literary Competition Committee, consisting of Garnet Bass, Mary
Margaret Benson,
Victoria Carson, Gene Koppel, Edith Lank, Marylea Meyersohn, Catherine
Lynch
Sadler, Elsa Solender, and Mary Gaither Marshall (Chairman) agreed that
no entry
merited the first prize of $750, but that four entries, instead of
three,
deserved the runners-up prizes of $250. Is Pride
and Prejudice the reading public’s favourite Austen
Novel?
Perhaps, but apparently it was not a favourite composition topic.
Only forty-one entries were received on the 1989 topic: “Choose
one or
two characters from Pride and Prejudice (other
than
Elizabeth and Darcy) and discuss how Jane Austen uses characterization
to
develop the plot and theme and to add to our understanding of Elizabeth
and
Darcy.” Fourteen
semi-finalists were chosen from the forty eligible entries (down from
63 the
previous year) 29 women, 7 men, and 5 gender not known, freshmen
through seniors
representing 21 states and 2 provinces of Canada.
Several colleges and universities had multiple submissions.
North
Carolina State University having the most at six.
Besides the four finalists, the other semi-finalists were
Anne-Lindsay
Beall, Lenoir, NC (Sophomore, Meredith College); Susan E. Brooks,
Whiteville, NC
28472 (Junior, North Carolina State University); Connie Dickinson,
Eugene, OR
(Sophomore, University of Oregon); Bret Drury, Lander, WY (Freshman,
University
of Wyoming); Cherrill Mears, Anchorage, AK (Junior, University of
Alaska,
Anchorage); Heidi Rolland, South Weymouth, MA (Senior, Wheaton
College); Albert
C. Sears, Alturas, CA (Senior, Dominican College of San Rafael); Joanne
Southey,
Kent, WA (Junior, University of Oregon); Kirsten Swanson, Paso Robles,
CA
(Junior, University of Puget Sound); and Helen S. Townsend, Federal
Way, WA
(Senior, University of Puget Sound). The 1990
Annual JASNA competition will include for the first time a category for
graduate
students. All JASNA members are urged to encourage undergraduate and
graduate
students to enter essays on the topic “Compare the lovers in Sense
and
Sensibility and discuss how Jane Austen uses their relationships
to
define “sense” and “sensibility.”
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