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CCU student wins Paul Rice Poetry contest

“The Art of Walking,” a poem by Coastal Carolina University junior English major Hannah Widdifield from Murrells Inlet, was recently named the winner of the 12th Paul Rice Poetry Broadside Series Contest. Honorable mentions went to CCU English major and Myrtle Beach native Lissa Knowles for her poem “Freewoods Road” and CCU mathematics major Sarah Sexton, originally from Williamsburg, Va., for “Type-font Metamorphosis.”

 As the winning poet, Widdifield will receive a $100 gift certificate to the CCU bookstore and 25 copies of the broadside, which will be produced by the end of the semester in an edition of 100 copies.

 Final judge and poet Doug Van Gundy praised Widdifield’s work as “seemingly effortless” with “clear and simple language.” Gundy also said, “As a reader, I feel that something has been shared with me and trusted to me…It is the rare poem that draws me as fully into its world as this one does.”

Gundy teaches creative writing, Appalachian literature and humanities at West Virginia Wesleyan College. His first book of poems, “A Life Above Water,” was published in 2007. 

“The Art of Walking” broadside will be available in the coming weeks. To acquire a copy or obtain any previous broadsides, contact Dan Albergotti at 843-349-2420 or albergot@coastal.edu. A donation of $1 per copy is requested to help support future competitions.

The Paul Rice Broadside Series was created by the CCU Department of English in memory of the late Paul Rice, a poet, CCU English professor and songwriter who died in 2004.

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