2013 Denny C. Plattner Awards

The annual Plattner Awards were established in 1995 by Kenneth and Elissa Plattner to honor their late son and his love of writing. The awards are given to the finest pieces of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that appeared in Appalachian Heritage during the previous year. Winners receive a $200 prize and a handsome cherry wooden book rack designed and manufactured by Berea College Crafts.

FICTION

Judged by Glenn Taylor, author of The Marrowbone Marble Company and The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart

Winner: William Kelley Woolfitt, “Daughter with a Star on Her Brow”

Honorable Mention: Carrie Mullins, “Cell-Life”

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Judged by Marianne Worthington, author of Larger Bodies Than Mine and co-editor of Still: The Journal

Winner: Toby D. Gibson, “The Melungeons of Newman’s Ridge: An Insider’s Perspective”

Honorable Mention: Wendell Berry, “To Break the Silence”

POETRY

Judged by Irene Latham, author of The Sky Between Us and Leaving Gee’s Bend

Winner: Stephanie Thomas Berry, “Guard the Night”

Honorable Mention: Samantha Cole, “Dreams of Family Buried in the Motor City”