Sassafras Literary brought back the adult writing contest for 2025! Pickens County writers submitted their original work in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry.
First, we’d like to thank the Pickens Arts and Cultural Alliance for the grant that funded these efforts. We’d also like to thank authors Helen Pitts Bradley, Jessica Nettles, and Mandy Lewis Cantrell for volunteering to judge the entries.
At the award party, we absolutely loved having prolific author and USA TODAY Bestseller Carolyn Ridder Aspenson as our guest speaker. She shared her journey as a writer and encouraged everyone to ignore the imposter syndrome. It was a pleasure meeting her and we appreciated her joining us for the party. If you’d like to learn more about her or her books, check out her website.
Congratulations to our winners:
Nonfiction
First – Lora Bunch Carr – Watermelon Patch Sittin’
Second – Tricia Steele – The Sisterhood Of Collapsing Lungs
Third – Jeanne Wells – Don’t Fear the Reaper
Honorable Mention – Porter Versfelt III – There is a Native American Cemetery In My Front Yard
Fiction
First – Mary Jo Brown – Rejected
Second – Whitney Lofton – The Word of the Mountain
Third – Gus Gibson – Miss Pearl Aberdeen
Honorable Mention – William Cochran – A Broken Gaze
Poetry
First – Lynn Kaiser Conrad – Tropical Depression
Second – Lisa Calhoun – The Can Family
Third – Sheila Temple – Weeping Still
Honorable Mention – Lora Bunch Carr – Waiting Rooms
We’re hoping to host this writing contest again next year and expand on who can enter.
In the meantime, you’re invited to join us for our regular monthly writers meeting hosted at the Pickens County Library in Jasper on the third Thursdays of the month from 5:00pm – 6:30pm. Regular event announcements are made on our Facebook page and sent out in an email newsletter.