First Place Winner Prose: Sara Etgen-Baker
“The September Wind”
Sara’s love for words began when, as a young girl, her mother read the dictionary to her every night. A teacher’s unexpected whisper, “You’ve got writing talent,” ignited her writing desire. Although she ignored that whisper, she never forgot her teacher’s words. So after retirement, she began writing memoirs, short stories, and personal narratives.

Her memoirs have appeared in anthologies including My Heroic Journey, The Santa Claus Project, and Wisdom Has A Voice. Others have appeared inTrue Words Anthology by Story Circle Network, Looking Back Magazine, Storyteller Magazine, and WomensMemoirs.com. She’s read some of her memoirs before a live audience at the Starving Artist Café in Little Rock, Arkansas, and currently lives in Allen, Texas. Her blog: http://www.saraetgenbaker.blogspot.com/

First Place Winner Poetry: Alison Townsend
“Persephone in America”
Alison Townsend has two books, Persephone in America and The Blue Dress, and two chapbooks, And Still the Music,and What the Body Knows.  Her poetry and essays appear widely, in journals and anthologies such as Arts & Letters, Michigan Quarterly Review, Southern Review, Best American Poetry, and Wildbranch. Her many awards include a Pushcart Prize, a literary fellowship from the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the Crab Orchard Open Poetry Competition Prize.  She teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and lives in the farm country outside Madison. A book of autobiographical essays, The Name for Woman is River, nears completion.

Second Place Winner Prose: Elise Frances Miller
“My People’s Park”
Elise Frances Miller’s novel, A Time to Cast Away Stones (Sand Hill Review Press, June, 2012), is set in 1968 Berkeley and Paris. With degrees from UC Berkeley and UCLA, Elise began writing about arts for the Los Angeles Times, Art News and San Diego Magazine. She taught high school and college humanities, and served as communications director at San Diego State University and Stanford. Her short stories have appeared in The Sand Hill Review (fiction editor, 2008), Fault Zone: Stepping Up to the Edge, and online. Her novel and its historical background are described at www.elisefmiller.com.

Third Place Winner Prose: Judy Gumbo Albert
“Bugged”
Judy Gumbo Albert, Ph.D, was an original member of a 1960’s countercultural group called the Yippies. She wrote for the Berkeley Barb and helped found the Berkeley Tribe. Judy visited the former North Viet Nam during the war. She organized demonstrations at People’s Park, the Women’s April 10^th March on the Pentagon and Mayday. In 1975, Judy discovered a tracking device on her car and was part of a lawsuit that successfully challenged warrantless wiretapping. Judy has taught Sociology and Women’s Studies at East and West coast colleges, but spent most of her career as an award-winning fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Judy is co- author of The Sixties Papers: Documents of a Rebellious Decade (1984). “Bugged”is adapted from Yippie Girl, Judy’s memoir-in-progress about love and conflict among the romantic revolutionaries of the late 1960s. Find Judy at: judygumboalbert@gmail.com, www.yippiegirl.com or on Facebook.

First Honorable Mention Prose: Lucille Lang Day
“The Trip”
Lucille Lang Day is the author of a memoir, Married at Fourteen: A True Story. She has also published a children’s book, Chain Letter, and eight poetry collections and chapbooks, most recently The Curvature of Blue. Her poetry and prose have appeared widely in such magazines and anthologies as The Cincinnati Review, The Hudson Review, and Mother Songs (Norton). She received her M.A. in English and M.F.A. in creative writing at San Francisco State University, and her M.A. in zoology and Ph.D. in science and mathematics education at the University of California at Berkeley. Her website is http://lucillelangday.com.

First Honorable Mention Poetry: Joan Annsfire
“Under Siege”
Joan Annsfire is a poet, writer, longtime political activist and retired librarian who lives in Berkeley California. Her poetry has appeared in online various places, such as: the Counterpunch web site’s: ”Poet’s Basement, 99 Poems for the 99%, Lavender Review, OccuPoetry, The SoMa Literary Review; in print journals such as The Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly, Sinister Wisdom: (many issues), The 13th Moon, Bridges, The Evergreen Chronicles, and in anthologies such as: The Other side of the Postcard edited by devorah major,  The Queer Collection, 2007, edited by Gregory Kompes, The Cancer Poetry Project Anthology edited by Karin Miller ,The Venomed Kiss, edited by Anita M. Barnard and Michelle Rhea and Milk and Honey, edited by Julie Enszer. Her short stories and memoir pieces have appeared both online, in literary journals as well as anthologies.

Second Honorable Mention Prose: Julie Royce
“Headed North on a Southern Highway”
Julie Royce, attorney, recently published a legal thriller, PILZ, available on Amazon. She is editing her historical fiction novel, Ardent Spirit, about American Indian fur trader Magdelaine LaFramboise and writing a second crime fiction novel, The Mission Murders. Julie has published two travel books, Traveling Michigan’s Thumb and Traveling Michigan’s Sunset Coast. She has written magazine articles and has been included in several anthologies. She also writes a monthly travel column for www.wanderingeducators.com. Her website and blog are at www.jkroyce.com.

Second Honorable Mention Poetry: Merimee Moffitt
“ Before the Summer of Love”
Merimée arrived in New Mexico in a shiny green Chrysler from Portland in 1970 and fell in love with the land, sun, culture—everything. She thought the Viet Nam vets and their pot dealer she was traveling with were in New Mexico to dry out, but forty years later, it occurs to her that New Mexico is the heroin center of the US, still. hmmm. She has a first poetry collection, Making Little Edens, hopefully on Amazon in a month or two.  She is a semi-retired writing teacher and currently co-hosts the only prose open mic in Albuquerque, Duke City Dime Stories. She lives with her husband Randy and their two dogs and is the mother of four children and four grandkids. Her work appears often in all of the fabulous reviews and journals coming out in New Mexico now. Look for her memoir before the end of the year: stories set in 1964 through 1971 and her soon-to-be available book of poems, Making Little Edens.

Third Honorable Mention Prose: Venus Maher
“Tripping on High”
Dr. Venus Maher is a Chiropractor, writer, photographer, songwriter, and artist. She lives with her partner, teenage son and their cats in the hills of Santa Rosa. Dr. Venus is currently working on two books: a memoir about growing up in the hippie communes of the 60s and 70′s, and a novel about shape-shifting, time-traveling empaths who look like angels but have problems of their own to solve. She says, “To feel fully alive, I must create.”

Congratulations to the Winners! Anthology to be released August 2013

We are producing an evocative anthology of true stories and poetry written by women who were there, and who have never forgotten the times or the moments that changed them:

Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s & 70s

What an awakening time it was—rocking us to our roots, making us think, feel, and respond to the world in new and sometimes confusing, but always exciting, ways.

For the Anthology, we selected personal narratives and poetry from women who were part of the amazing movements of consciousness, politics, and feminism during the 60s and 70s. We hope this collection of works will:

• Inspire young women now to evolve and grow, to hold onto their ideals and express their own voices
• Remind you, the generation of women from that era, the importance of your legacy
• Educate readers about women’s unique participation in those changing times