On Sunday, September 21, at the Robert W. Hamilton Awards Banquet at the Four Seasons Hotel, the Austin Writers’ League announced the winners of their 1997 Violet Crown Book Awards. The envelope, please…
Fiction:
* D. Marion Wilkinson of Austin, for Not Between Brothers (Boaz Publishing), a first novel about the birth of Texas.
Fiction Special Citations were awarded to Roger Boylan of San Marcos for Killoyle: An Irish Farce (Dalkey Archive Press) and to Gail Donohue Storey of Houston for God’s Country Club (Persea Books).
Nonfiction:
* Mike Cox of Austin, chief of media relations for Texas Department of Public Safety, for Texas Ranger Tales: Stories That Need Telling, ironically enough published by Republic of Texas Press.
Nonfiction Special Citations were awarded to Gary Lavergne of Cedar Park for A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders (University of North Texas Press) and Eddie Wilson of Austin for Threadgill’s: The Cookbook (Longstreet Press).
Literary Book Award:
* Lisa Sandlin, now teaching creative writing in Wayne, Nebraska, for Message to the Nurse of Dreams (Cinco Puntos Press).
Special Citations were awarded to Kathleen Hart of Bryan for The Country That Is Everywhere, a self-published chapbook, and to Wendell Mayo who teaches creative writing at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, for Centaur of the North (Arte Publico Press).
Judges for the Fiction award included Anne Dingus, senior editor, Texas Monthly; Maggie Miller, reading instructor, ACC; and Gretchen Polnac, English teacher, Austin High School. Nonfiction judges were Valerie Bennett, curator, O. Henry Museum; Kay Powers, columnist, Austin-American Statesman; and Alice Wightman, publisher, @Austin. Judges for the Literary awards included Alan Altamont, creative writing instructor, St. Edward’s; Barbara Strickland, The Austin Chronicle; and Dr. Hazel Ward, English faculty member, ACC. Judges are not members of AWL. Top prize in each category: $1,000. Winners had to be AWL members but were able to join upon submission. —Claiborne K.H. Smith
This article appears in October 3 • 1997 and October 3 • 1997 (Cover).