On November 2, about 40 guests enjoyed
camaraderie and plentiful food and drink at the
Arizona Authors Association Literary Awards
Reception, held at the home of AAA Vice President
and Literary Contest Coordinator Jane Ruby.
Jane graciously contributed the considerable
cost of renting the tables and chairs that dotted her
spacious back yard. AAA President Emeritus Toby
Heathcotte was on hand to present award certificates
and cash prizes to winners of the 2024 contest.
The free event was livestreamed on
Facebook, courtesy of our resident tech-wizard,
Daniel Dickinson. Kebba Buckley Button circulated
throughout the afternoon, to photo-capture the
festivities.
Former Broadway musical theater actress and outgoing AAA Editor in
Chief Penny Orloff acted as Master of Ceremonies, entertaining the
crowd with quips and stories as she announced the prizes in each of the
many contest categories. Penny, herself, had contributed $1000 toward
prize money to make the contest as appealing as possible to entrants
Eva Moon’s novel, Pinocchio’s Guide to the End of the World,
won the $500 Grand Prize. Other top prize winners of $200 each were
Jessie Thorpe for her published novel, Bolton Roper; Jack Wulfen for his
short story, Cats Know; and Judy Paris for her published children’s book,
Not Funny, Harvey.
Other cash prize winners were DeVonna Allison, Bart Ambrose,
Dan Baldwin, Stephen Bowling, McKenzie Catron-Pichan, Earl Vincent
deBerge, Wayne Edwards, Rosemarie Garlasco, Anne Hanovich, Marsha
Klopmeier-Tufft, Susan Krause, Lawrence Lenhart, Eileen Mahoney,
Nancy Hicks Marshall, Jessica McCann, Isabella Sardas, Jacque Shaw,
Cita Stelzer, Diane Vaszily, Steve Weitzenkorn, and Julie Wendt. For the
complete list of winners, go to arizonaauthors.org and click “winners.”
The annual AAA Literary Contest welcomes authors of published and unpublished novels, nonfiction works, and
novellas; unpublished essays, short stories, and poetry; and published Young Adult and children’s books. The
2025 contest opens January 1, 2025. To enter, go to arizonaauthors.org and click on Contest.
To Purchase a Copy of our 2025
Arizona Authors Literary Awards
Magazine, please click on the cover in the right column.