Linfield University

Linfield University recently announced the winners of the inaugural Lacroute Prize for Poety and Prose, recognizing entrants for the best students writing this year. The competition was organized by Linfield's Creative Writing Program. Finalists were chosen from nearly 60 submissions by the creative writing faculty, then sent to poet and fiction writer Genevieve DeGuzman, recipient of the 2022 Oregon Literary Fellowship, for final deliberations. The winner of the Lacroute Prize in Poetry was "Stage Whisper" by Summer Eves. DeGuzman's thoughts on the winning poem: "The prodigious world in "Stage Whisper" unravels like a runaway train and evokes a larger-than-life sensibility that astonished me. The speaker's odyssey aspires to poetry's epic proportions, not only in length but in detail-details of tender quotidian moments and brutal memories, and an anti-hero speaker filled with anger, despair, and longing." Finalists in the poetry category include: "A Prayer for Melanin" by Kalysa Dombrigues, "Earth: A Confession" by Zee Nace, "Loneliness Is a Barking Dog" by Zee Nace, "We Lay Together In The Way Only Corpses Can" by Zee Nace and "Smoke Bombs" by Sarah Reynolds. The winner of the Lacroute Prize in Prose was "Tree, Raven, Hillside, Fire" by Elana Gatien. DeGuzman's thoughts on the winning essay: "I couldn't pull away from the vivid, incantatory prose and metaphors in "Tree, Raven, Hillside, Fire." The narrator summons lush detail from the natural world to capture the struggle of acceptance and grappling with one's gender identity. In the vacuum of the burn scar comes life. Runner-up for the prose category was "Under the Lekumi Tree" by Colin Bellairs. Finalists were "To Leave" by Summer Eves and "Pesha" by Zee Nace. All finalist and winning entries were published in the spring issue of Camas: A Journal of Art & Literature. Winners each received $500, thanks to the support from the Lacroute Initiative for Advancing the Liberal Arts. More information about Linfield's Creative Writing Program can be found online at https://www.linfield.edu/programs/creative-writing/index.html.

Mackenzie Kulick, a sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas, was recently recognized by the Broadcast Educators Association's Festival of Media Arts for her podcast "Factual Nonsense." As part of its Student Audio Competition, Kulick won third place in the "Specialty Program and Podcasts" category. The national competition features entries from universities of all sizes. Kulick is pursuing a major in marketing and double minor in media studies and wine studies at Linfield University. She is also a member of the Wildcat women's lacrosse team and the Linfield Presidential Impact Internship Program. She created the podcast as part of JAMS 112: Electronic Media Practices class. "Throughout this class I watched myself evolve behind the mic," she said. "My inspiration for Factual Nonsense stems from my daily life. It seems that every time I am having dinner with a friend, I spout off an odd fact that leaves people shocked and wanting more. Everyone wonders where I find all these facts, and to be honest, they are everywhere, people just have to look for them." Kulick entered an episode titled "Speak of the Devil," which educates listeners how the devil got its horns. "I feel this episode has the shock factor of an interesting fact and showcases my editing skills with all the included sound effects," she said. And though she created the podcast as a class project, Kulick plans to continue to produce episodes through the Linfield Pawdcast Network, a student-run organization. "I entered the class thinking that I will learn some cool skills, but nothing more," she said. "It's hard to believe where I started in my first episode and where I am now." With this award, Kulick joins a growing list of Linfield students who have been recognized nationally for their excellence in podcasting. In 2021, Kendall Harrison '21 and Nathaly Sanchez '21 received honorable mentions in the NPR Podcast Challenge, and Joe Stuart '20 won first place in the Specialty Program and Podcasts category and the Radio Sports Story/Feature category at the 2021 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts. Listen to Kulick's podcast "Factual Nonsense" and her award-winning episode at https://soundcloud.com/mackenzie-480283378/factual-nonsense-episode-3-speak-of-the-devil.