April 28, 2004

Winners named in literary competition

California State University, Sacramento continues its tradition of honoring academic excellence with the naming of the winners of the 2004 Bazzanella Literary Awards. The awardees, 16 graduate and undergraduate CSUS students, were notified on April 27 by Robert Olmstead, CSUS professor of English.

First and second prizes were awarded in both graduate and undergraduate categories in four areas: critical analysis, expository prose, poetry and short fiction. First prize winners received $200 and second prize winners $100. The winning submissions will be published in an upcoming booklet. This year’s winners were:

• Critical analysis: Graduate, first place, Anna Lee McKennon; second place, Ann Wehrman. Undergraduate, first place, Leah Larsen; second place, Daniel Benson.
• Expository prose: Graduate, first place, Karen Embry; second place Jean Bricarello. Undergraduate, first place, Stacy Lucier; second place, David Purdy.
• Poetry Graduate, first place, Karen Embry; second place, Tina Royer. Undergraduate, first place, Heather Judy; second place, Natasha Stanford.
• Short fiction: Graduate, first place, Ann Wehrman; second place, Patrick Lochelt. Undergraduate, first place, Jeremy Trimble; second place, Daniel Benson.

The awards are named after the late Dominic “Buzz” Bazzanella, a former CSUS professor of English and acting dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the time of his death in 1978, and supported by the Angelo and Sofia Tsakopoulos Endowment Fund of the Sacramento Regional Foundation. They have been presented annually since 1979. The competition is open to all students currently enrolled at CSUS.

The winners will be honored at a reception at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 12 in the University Union Foothill Suite.

For more information, call (916) 278-7284. For media assistance, contact CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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