Kenneth and Elissa May Plattner established the Denny C. Plattner Awards in 1995 to honor their late son Denny and his love for writing. First place winners each receive $200, and the first, second and third place winners in each category receive a bookrack from Berea College Crafts with a personalized commemorative plaque. Thanks to Andy Plattner for coordinating the judging and to Angela Ball of the University of Southern Mississippi, John Henry Fleming of the University of South Florida, and Jane Woodman of the University of Northern Arizona for being judges.
Poetry
First Place: Llewellyn McKernan, “Four Pole Creek” (Spring)
Second Place: Ali O’Rourke, “071400” (Summer)
Third Place: Ron Rash, “Offering” (Fall)
Honorable Mention: Kathryn Stripling Byer, “Open” (Fall)
Fiction
First Place: Meredith Sue Willis, “Big Boss Is Back” (Fall)
Second Place: Corvin Thomas, “Snakes” (Spring)
Third Place: Chris Wood, “The Day the Eighties Ended” (Winter)
Honorable Mention: Holly Farris, “Covered Dish” (Summer); Patricia H. Patteson and Gerald D. Swick, “Black Gold, Fool’s Gold” (Spring); Jerry Mansfield, “The Old Ways” (Spring).
Non-Fiction
First Place: Tim Poland, “Going Native” (Spring)
Second Place: Rhonda Strickland, “New Ground” (Spring)
Third Place: Joyce Compton Brown, “The Dark and Clear Vision of Ron Rash” (Fall)
Honorable Mention: Bo Ball, “Early Hungers” (Winter); Jack Justice, “A Coal Miner” (Summer); Tammy Horn, “Re-examining the Negative Appalachian Stereotypes in the Southern Highlands: Evelyn Scott’s Witch Perkins: A Story of the Kentucky Hills” (Summer).