Bethanne Snodgrass, longtime member and volunteer for the Friends of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center and coordinator of the Annual Writing Contest, introduces the Adult Prose honorable mentions during the Annual Writing Contest Awards Ceremony Sunday in the Hall of Philosophy.
NORA SMITH
Staff Writer
Lydia Strohl smiles after being awarded First Place in Adult Prose for her piece, “Teeth.”
At 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Hall of Philosophy, Friends of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center hosted the Annual Writing Contests Award Ceremony, celebrating writers of varying genres and ages.
Bethane Snodgrass, longtime member and volunteer for the Friends of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center and coordinator of the Annual Writing Contests, began the ceremony by providing a brief background on the contest and the Chautauqua Writers’ Center before introducing the award categories.
This year, Snodgrass said there were two adult categories, one in poetry and one in prose. There was also a young adult category, although it did not receive any submissions this year, and a youth category for both prose and poetry submissions. In addition, Snodgrass said there were two endowed first-place prizes: the Mary Jean Irion Poetry Prize for First Place in Adult Poetry and the Charles McCorkle Hauser Prose Prize for best adult story, essay, memoir or other piece of strong, creative prose.
Snodgrass detailed both Irion and Hauser’s influential roles at Chautauqua and the Writers’ Center before mentioning the contests’ judges for this year: published authors Kristin Kovacic and Jim Daniels, who have previously judged and were Week Five’s Writers’ Center Faculty.
“Both the judges communicated to me that they were very impressed by the quality of the work submitted this year,” Snodgrass said. “I think that’s a real tribute to Chautauqua and the writers who come to teach us and all of you who’ve worked so hard at creating this art, so, thank you to all of you.”
Then, Snodgrass announced the awards.
In the Adult Prose category, Laura Daniels, Gavin MacFadyen, Heather Pollock and Thomas Tilert received honorable mentions for their submissions. Michael Field received second place for his piece “Turtles All the Way Down,” and Lydia Strohl came in first place with her piece, “Teeth.”
“We are so grateful and encourage all of you winners to continue writing and submitting to the contest,” Snodgrass said.
In the Adult Poetry category, Mark Conaway, Julia Messing, Crystal Pierce and Stephen Still received honorable mentions for their poetry pieces.
Mark Conaway reads his poetry piece “Boxes and Butts” that won an Honorable Mention in Adult Poetry.
“First of all, thank you, Bethanne, and just being acknowledged in this way in this writers’ group, it’s my favorite place to be,” Conaway said before reading his poem “Boxes and Butts.”
Next, Messing, an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University studying writing seminars and medicine, science and the humanities, thanked her professor of poetry before reading her poem, “The Creaky Step,” and afterward, Pierce read her poem, “Grandmother.”
“This came out of our Writers’ Workshop, this very summer,” Still said before reading his poem, “Everything We Want.”
Snodgrass then announced second place for Adult Poetry, Catherine D’Agostino for “The Poetry Criminals,” and first place for Ann Wallace’s “Watershed.” D’Agostino read her poem, and Snodgrass read Wallace’s piece since Wallace wasn’t able to attend the ceremony.
Lastly, Snodgrass announced first place in the Youth Category, which went to Emma Yelverton for her prose piece, “Meatloaf and the Surprise Substitute,” which she then read.
“Thank you all for coming to our award ceremony in 2026,” Snodgrass said. “Keep writing, everyone, and we look forward to seeing you back next year.”
Snodgrass said the winning works will be printed and collected into a pamphlet that can be read in the library until next season, but are not for circulation.
