DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The University of North Texas’ Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, working with the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum’s Education Department, Big Thought and Biographers International, has announced the 2012 winners of the National Biography Writing Contest for high school and community college students.

Students from around the United States participating in the biography contest were encouraged to write a biography about a person who has left a lasting legacy in their community.

The contest is working to foster the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. A panel judged entries and winners were awarded full attendance to the 2012 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, a renowned gathering of some of the nation’s pre-eminent nonfiction writers, editors, literary agents and others devoted to the narrative craft.

This year’s biography contest winners are:

• Brenda Montalvo of Dallas, Texas, attending Mountain View College
• Kathy Joseph of Tyler, Texas, attending Bishop TK Gorman Catholic High School
• Anna Victor of Newark, NJ, attending Technology High School
• Annacaroline Caruso of Baltimore, MD, attending Perry Hall High School
• Katie Lothrop of Balch Springs, Texas, attending Townview Talented and Gifted Magnet
• Antoinette Gillian of Dallas, Texas, attending Mountain View College
• Kiernan Majerus-Collins of West Hartford, CT, attending William H. Hall High School
• Christy Purnadi of Coppell, Texas, attending R.L. Turner High School
• Obed Manuel of Farmers Branch, Texas, attending Brookhaven College
• Mahishan Gnanaseharan of Newark, NJ, attending Science Park High School

“Congratulations to the 2012 Mayborn National Biography Contest winners,” said Shirley Hammond, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum’s director of education. “The Mayborn Conference will be a source of inspiration to learn from published authors and to interact with other writers. The enriching experience will nourish the winners’ passion for writing.”

The Mayborn Conference provides a unique experience for young people interested in learning narrative non-fiction, said James McGrath Morris, the author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power and president of the biography contest partner Biographers International Organization.

“The best reward for these young contest winners is spending time with successful writers to develop mentoring relationships, which in writing, as in many other professions, is key to later success,” Morris said. “It is not surprising that the conference, which has been an incubator for the country’s best narrative non-fiction writers, is now playing this important role in inspiring yet another generation of storytellers.”

Randee Paur, a board member with biography contest partner Big Thought, whose story “The Coconut Head Monkey” was published in Ten Spurs, Vol. 4, agreed.

“The Mayborn Conference has created an experience of immersing professional writers and beginning storytellers that has spurred me on as a writer and as a participant attending the conference every year since 2010,” Paur said. “It is not only an exhilarating experience to hear the stories and journeys of other writers, but to share in the tribe that conference director George Getschow envisioned when he cooked up the idea of a conference to inspire non-fiction storytellers and journalists eight years ago. It is the best way to spend three days for any writer out there.”

The Mayborn Conference takes place July 20 – 22 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas. The student biographers will attend the conference with a mentor or teacher, including an all-day workshop on Friday during which Morris will critique their biographies. The winning biographies will be published in The Dallas Morning News.

For additional information about the biography competition or the Mayborn Conference, contact George Getschow at 972-746-1633 or getschow@unt.edu, or Jo Ann Ballantine, Mayborn Conference manager, at 940-565-4778 or Joann.Ballantine@unt.edu.