By Melissa Turosik
The Youngstown State University Poetry Center and Etruscan Press announced four winners of the 2018 Etruscan Prize and held a reading at the Youngstown Public Library on Monday.
Each student submitted a one-page creative piece in any genre known as, “One page that sings.” The students shared $1,000 in prize money.
The winners were Kelsey Metzger, Mallory Radar, Logan Burrows and Dom Fonce. Each student read their work to the audience.
Metzger won first place. She said she received a certificate, signed copies of the three author’s works, as well as a monetary prize.
Metzger said she was very proud to win the award. Her winning story is a coming-of-age, coming-out novel about a boy who struggled with self-acceptance and societal acceptance.
The event featured authors Myrna Stone, Lynn Lurie and YSU Professor Phil Brady, who each read a piece of their own published work.
Stone, a poet, said it was difficult to get a sense of a person’s writing in one page, but she was amazed by what the winners were writing about.
Deborah Liptak, development director of the Youngstown Public Library, said she thinks everyone should support local authors.
“I always tell them once you become rich and famous remember where you got your start at the public library. That’s what it’s all about. Books and learning,” Liptak said.
Brady, the director of Etruscan Press, said the featured authors came to the area as part of the Etruscan Press and the YSU Poetry Center Outreach Program.
“They visit schools, a few prisons and community centers while they’re here for a week,” Brady said.
Brady said he loves books and he is delighted to be a part of the community. He also said achieving publication is a wonderful thing.
“It’s been an ambition of mine since I was a student and I’m glad I had some success as a writer,” Brady said.
Brady said his advice to aspiring young writers is to deeply immerse yourself in your own work and the work of others and treat the publishing process strictly.
Undergraduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences are eligible to submit a one-page creative piece each year.
For more information, please contact Philip Brady ([email protected]) or visit www.etruscanpress.org.