Book contract, cash prizes awarded at 2012 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- UNT alumnus Paul Knight, an assistant editor at Texas Monthly, earned a $3,000 cash prize at the 2012 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference for his manuscript "Devil on the Plains: The Epic True Story of an American Warrior on the Western Frontier," in which Knight tells the story of 20-year-old Jack Hays, an early Texas Ranger who helped bury the remains of soldiers at the Alamo, and a band of soldiers that followed him and later led the United States in its invasion of Mexico in the 1840s.
"I can't say enough about how important it was for me to win the award at the Mayborn. It's surreal, actually. The Mayborn launched my career as a writer and is where I learned to be a storyteller," Knight said.
One of the Mayborn Conference's literary agents, Jim Hornfischer of Hornfischer Literary Management, is representing Knight.
In all, cash prizes for writing competition winners totaled more than $15,000 and were announced at the 8th annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. Sponsors include The Dallas Morning News, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Ricco Family Partners, Ltd., Village Voice Media and The Oklahoman.
A complete list of Mayborn Conference winners follows:
Manuscript contest winners:
- First Place, $3,000 – Paul Knight, "Devil on the Plains"
- Second place, $250 – Kathryn Hulings, "Explaining Sex While Waiting for a Table at Olive Garden: Adventures in Raising my son who has Down Syndrome"
- Third Place, $250 – Harry Hall, "Adah Anderson, Pedestrienne"
Personal Essay contest winners:
- First place, $3,000 – Joanna Cattanach, "Reunited"
- Second place, $2,000 – Penne Richards, "Unveiling Hope"
- Third place, $1,000 – Moira Muldoon, "The Girl Who Walked Across Fire"
Research and reporting-based essay winners:
- First place, $3,000 – Sierra Mendez, "Where the Wild Things are"
- Second place, $2,000 – Susan Fisher, "Samuel is Teething"
- First place, $1,000 – Amanda Griffith, "Child of South Vietnam"
The 10 best articles and essays submitted are printed in "Ten Spurs" each year. "Ten Spurs" is a literary journal including the six winners of the personal essay and the reporting-based essay categories, along with four others:
- Evan Moore, "A Cigarette on the Champs-Elysees"
- Iris Podolsky, "Red Stilettos"
- Pamela Skjolsvik, "Build it and They Will Come"
- Benjamin Tompkins, "The Meadows"
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