• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Daisy Pettles

Shady Hoosier Detective Agency

  • Home
  • About Daisy
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • Merchandise
  • Contest
  • Blog

DaisyPettles Administrator

Daisy Pettles Prize Winners – July 2020 Grants

May 19, 2020 By DaisyPettles Administrator

Daisy Pettles, https://www.daisypettles.com, Indiana author and philanthropist, is pleased to announce the winners in the July 2020 residency and funding cycle in the Daisy Pettles Contest for Women Writers, https://www.daisypettleswritingcontest.com.

The prize competition, with a top award of $1,000 and a free, month-long residency in the Daisy Pettles Houses for Women Writers, https://daisypettleswritingcontest.com/womens-writing-residency/, a vintage bungalow located in Southern Indiana,  is open annually to older women writers, aged forty or over, published or unpublished, working in any genre (other than poetry).

Prize Winners – Older Women Writers

Grand Prize & July 2020 Writer in Residence – Sharon May – Columbia, South Carolina
Working on a southern Appalachian memoir and novel, “Hillbilly Crazy and Mountain Queer”

1st Runner-Up – Karen Ahn – Sebastopol, California
Working on a Novel, “The  Music Lesson,” where a 16 year-old musician struggles with her talent only to be haunted in her 30’s by misconceptions and doubts about past life choices.

2nd Runner-Up – Shari Benyousky –  Warsaw,  Indiana
Working on a Mystery Novel, “Then Shall the Dust Return,” a literary and historical mystery and ghost story based on a 1920s unsolved crime in Atwood, Indiana

July 2020 applicants included both published and unpublished women writers working in genres ranging across children’s musical plays, fantasy novels, literary novels, radio plays, creative non-fiction memoirs, and commercial mysteries. The writer’s grant program , open to women regardless of citizenship or residency status, attracted applicants from sixteen states in the United States as well as Sweden, Scotland, and South Africa.

A notable number of entries were submitted from older women writers and retirees in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The Daisy Pettles Writer’s House and awards program is located in Southern Indiana, close to Indiana University, Bloomington.

In addition, the following writers, all finalists in the competition, were awarded honorable mention for excellence in writing:

Women Writers Prize Finalists July 2020 Grant Cycle – Daisy Pettles House

Christina Cha – Oakland, California
Working on a collection of essays, Creative Non-Fiction, “Chaste While You Wait,” detailing family relationships and the use of memory and language to deal with grief over trauma and abuse

Brit Monica Maria Gustafsson – Sweden
Working on an English update and translation of a Swedish spy thriller novel, “The Asset”

Devin Kenney – Morristown, New Jersey
Drafting “All the Kings Horses,” a collection of non-fiction essays on addiction, mental health recovery, and single-parent mothering

Amy Lyons – New York, New York
Short story and flash fiction writer. Working on a short story collection, “Marginalia and Other Stories” with a central theme of women’s desires and regrets

Juliet Lockwood  – Grants Pass, Oregon
Working on a Speculative Fiction Novel, “The Coven,” which tells the interconnected stories of 12 benevolent witches in a Pacific Northwest coven by blending the horror, science fiction, supernatural, and dystopian genres

The majority of entrants for the July awards had yet to be published by traditional presses, yet submitted works in progress that ousted many of their top prize-winning peers. More than half of the entrants were retired from careers as diverse as factory worker, marketer, painter, retail clerk, lawyer, social worker, teacher, choreographer, lobbyist, librarian, journalist, medical researcher, English professor, business manager, and copy editor.

Grand Prize: $1,000 Cash Prize, PLUS Free 30-day  Residency as Writer in Residence at the Daisy Pettles House in Bedford, Indiana, USA, a vintage 1920s bungalow, equipped with all the amenities a women writer needs to write her heart out, undisturbed, for a month

1st Runner-Up: $250 Cash Grant; PLUS Award Certificate as Finalist

2nd Runner-Up: $100 Cash Grant; PLUS Award Certificate as Finalist

Grants were awarded based on writing talent, along with consideration of which particular writers might benefit most from the awards given the details they chose to share with the judges in their application profiles.

The Daisy Pettles Women’s Writing Competition is sponsored by Hoosier humor and mystery writer Daisy Pettles (Vicky Phillips: https://www.vickyphillips.com), in honor of her mother, June, an avid reader. June passed away in the spring of 2019, leaving her home in the care of her daughter.  Daisy is working with a team of women writers and Indiana historical preservationists to convert the home, a vintage 1920s bungalow located in southern Indiana (Lawrence County, south of Monroe County, Bloomington), to an ongoing retreat for older women writers.

The goal of the Women’s Writing House project is to discover, nurture, and reward diversity in writing and the arts by showcasing older women’s voices in literature. The project can be supported through Go Fund Me, https://www.gofundme.com/f/daisy-pettles-women-writers-house

When not occupied by a writer in residence, the Daisy Pettles House is currently open to monthly rental by any woman seeking a personal and private writing, artistic, spiritual, or meditative retreat, as well as women in groups of up to three for girlfriend retreats. For more on the house’s rental, rates, and availability, contact Cindy@Daisypettleswritingcontest.com

DONATE to the Women’s Writing House > https://www.gofundme.com/f/daisy-pettles-women-writers-house

LISTEN and Laugh along, to the free Daisy Pettles’ comedy podcast, the complete audiobook, “Ghost Busting Mystery,” Book 1 in the award-winning, humorous, Shady Hoosier Detective Agency. > https://daisypettles.com/cozy-mystery-podcast/

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Finalists Announced in Daisy Pettles Grants for Women Writers June 2020

February 25, 2020 By DaisyPettles Administrator

writing contest for women june 2020 finalists | daisy pettles house

Bedford, Indiana (Lawrence County); Bloomington, Indiana (Monroe County); Southern Indiana arts and entertainment news

Date: February 25, 2020

Daisy Pettles, Indiana author and philanthropist, is pleased to announce the grant finalists in the first annual Daisy Pettles Contest for Women Writers. The competition is open to women writers, aged forty or over, published or unpublished, working in all genres, except for poetry.

The competition, with a top cash prize of $1,000 and a free month-long residency in the Daisy Pettles House for Women Writers, was steep.

Applicants included a Fulbright Scholar, a Pushcart prize nominee, and several published novelists. Entrants came from diverse backgrounds and genres, ranging from political columnists to commercial romance authors.

A notable number of applicants had yet to be published, yet submitted works in progress that rivaled top prize-winning peers. Applications flowed in from across the United States, Iran, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The judges have, in round one, narrowed the possible prize winners down to the top seven applicants.

Writing Contest for Women, Finalists – June 2020

Below is the official list of the June 2020 writing contest finalists, in alpha order.
  • Teri Carter – Lawrenceburg, Kentucky|
    http://www.tericarter.net/home.html
    Working on a Memoir … “The Real Mom,” about the step-parenting experience.
  • Marie Drake – Golden, Colorado
    Working on a Memoir … “Crack through My Heart,” a memoir of growing up in the 60s and 70s with a drug-dealing, hippie mother, and a full-colonel CIA agent father.
  • Diane Hartman – Plainfield, Indiana
    Working on a Memoir … “And All Shall Be Well: Driving the Backroads of Ireland and Finding Myself,” a retired woman gathers her courage and goes in search of her ancestry.
  • Robin Israel – Scottsdale, Arizona
    https://robinisrael.com/
    Working on a Novel … “Leave the Frigging Marshmallows,” a coming-of-age story about an adolescent girl growing up in a dysfunctional Jewish family in the 1980s.
  • Celena Janton – Vail, Arizona
    Working on a Fantasy Romance Novel … “The Dreamers,” based on a reimagined Greek myth.
  • Mehrnoosh Khorsand – United Kingdom
    Working on a Novel … “How I Rescued My Daughter,” about an Iranian girl forced into an unhappy arranged marriage for self-serving reasons by her father. Story based on author’s experiences.
  • Robin Lovelace – Plainfield, Indiana
    https://www.indianawriters.org/blogs/news/member-spotlight-robin-lee-lovelace
    Working on a Novel … “The Hextens of Jackson County,” a historical reimagining of a family of witches living in rural Indiana in the late 1940s

The top three women applicants, chosen from the above finalists, will be announced on March 15, 2020. They will receive the following support grants and recognition for their written works.

#1 – Grand Prize: Free Residency –  Writer in Residence at the Daisy Pettles House in Bedford, Indiana, USA, a vintage 1920s bungalow, equipped with all the amentities a women writer might need to kick back and write her heart out, undisturbed, for a month … PLUS a $1,000 CASH grant.

#2 – 1st Runner-Up: $250 Cash Grant; PLUS Award Certificate as Finalist – Writer in Residence at the Daisy Pettles House for the year awarded; PLUS if for any reason the Grand Prize Winner is unable to attend the writing residency the residency immediately passes to the 1st Runner-Up.

#3 – 2nd Runner-Up: $100 Cash Award Grant; PLUS Award Certificate as Finalist – Writer in Residence at the Daisy Pettles House for the year awarded.

The final grants and free residency will be awarded based on writing talent along with a consideration of which women writers might benefit most from the awards given the details they chose to share with the judges in their application essays.

REMINDER to WOMEN WRITERS: the next women’s writing competition, for a July 2020 residency and supporting grant, is still OPEN to applicants. 

Submissions for the July prizes and residency close on April 15, 2020.

Older women writers (aged 40 or older) are invited to apply.

Women Writers Contest Finalists Announced in Indiana

The Daisy Pettles Women’s Writing Competition is sponsored by the Hoosier writer and philanthropist Daisy Pettles, in honor of her mother, June, an avid reader. June passed away in the spring of 2019, leaving her home in the care of her daughter, Daisy.

Daisy is working with a team of women writers, artists, and Indiana historical preservationists to convert the home, a vintage 1920s bungalow located in southern Indiana (Lawrence County, south of Monroe County, Bloomington), to a retreat and residency center for older women writers. 

The goal of the Women’s Writing House project is to discover, nurture, and reward diversity in women’s voices and literature.

The Women’s Writing House can be supported through donations at Go Fund Me.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Footer

Please follow & like Daisy :)

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
LinkedIn

Visit Daisy’s Author Pages

Daisy Pettles Amazon Author Page
Daisy Pettles BookBub page
Daisy Pettles Goodreads Page
Daisy Pettles LibraryThing page

Copyright © 2021 · Daisy Pettles


View our Privacy Statement


Website Designed and Developed by It's Only Natural, LLC