Persuasions #11, 1989                                                                                                                                                    Page 21

  The Second Annual JASNA Literary Competition

 

MARY GAITHER MARSHALL
Lombard, IL
 

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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