Today I watched the live announcement of the 2022 Selah Award finalists, (The picture I am using is last year's symbol which I received as a finalist in last year's contest.) This year my name was not called as a finalist, though I did enter a piece. Still, I was overjoyed to hear the finalists' names called out for a couple of reasons. I have so many writer friends now and I heard a few of their names called and am happy for each. But one in particular, thrilled me! Jenni Clark Dickens is new to the writing world and not so well known yet, but I assure you in time her name will be known! I've had the privilege of reading her work and she is quite the writer!
I met her last spring when she attended a workshop I taught at the MidSouth Christian Writers Conference. After the conference she reached out to me for some mentoring help. I have read and edited some of her pieces and gotten to know her. We fast became good friends. When she sent me the piece that was announced as a Selah finalist today, I knew immediately it was a special piece. I gave her a few editing suggestions but precious few. She is really quite gifted at writing. And I told her to submit it to Chicken Soup for the Soul for their Christmas book. I was not surprised to learn they had accepted it a few weeks later. Then I suggested she submit it to the Selah in the Essay category, which she did. And today it was announced as a finalist! I think I may be as excited about that as she is.
But there is one more detail about this winning piece. She bested me. I entered a piece I'd had published in Chicken Soup for the Soul last year in this same category. Mine did not make the list of finalists. I feel like a teacher whose student has proven to be better than the teacher. It makes me proud as a peacock. Touche' to Jenni! Way to go! I applaud you and am honored to have had even a small hand in your current success.
What a great time I’ve had the last couple of days! I had not registered to attend the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. My daughter got married last week and I just was not able to go to a conference and put on a wedding all in the same week. But I was up for a Selah in the “Articles in Print” category and my husband and I together were up for one in “General Nonfiction Books / Bible Studies”, a combined category. Because of Covid it was not certain for a long time whether people could come in just for the awards ceremony. As it turned out, we were not only allowed to go, North Carolina had also dropped its mask mandate for vaccinated people so we went, mingled, and had a great time. And ... won and placed in the contest!!!
My article took 2nd place in it’s category and our book, “A Stand for Truth” won 1st place. We are thrilled! (The book is available on Amazon here.
