The Bonnie Speer Creme de la Creme Award

The Bonnie Speer Creme de la Creme Award goes to the highest scoring entry in any of the six categories of the annual contest in the Norman Galaxy of Writers. The prize was first given in 2001, and below are the winners with the name of their entry and category to date.

2001  Anne Champeau
          Veteran's Day at the Vietnam Memorial, nonfiction

2002  Stan Solloway
          The Iron, Short Story

2003  Frances Searcey
          The New Student, Nostalgic Essay

2004  Robert Ferrier
          A Certain Age, Poem

2005  Vickey Kennedy
           The Aristocrat, Short Story

2006  David J. Jeffery
          Poem Envy, Rhymed Poetry

2007 Frances Searcey
         The Box-Seat Witness, Short Story

2008  Mark Hardick
          The Last Indian War, Short Story

2009  Keith Eaton
          Pals in the Golden West, Nostalgic Essay

2010  Dion Mayes-Burnett
          White Roses, Short Story

2011  Ruth Castillo
          Dorothy Dayton Jones: The Dolly Smith Days, Non-Fiction Article

2012  Shelly Anne Richter
          Harold's Helper, Unrhymed Poetry

2013  Lisbeth L. McCarty
          At Night, I Dreamed of Heaven, Nostalgic Essay

2014   Neal Huffaker
           Into Darkness, Nostalgic Essay

2015  Sylvia Forbes
          Tales from the Swamp, Nostalgic Essay

2016  Barbara Shepherd
          Daffodil Waltz, Short Story

2017 Barbara Shepherd
         Octavia's Secret, Short Story

May 2017 Speaker

Alicia Dean is both a freelance editor and an editor for The Wild Rose Press. She lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.
  She is the author of more than twenty-five published works under the name Ally Robertson for the Wild Rose Press suspense line. Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, and Lisa Gardner, to name just a few.
  Dean’s topic will be “Common Writing Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them.”
  From her experience as an editor, she will alert us to some of the issues she sees in submissions.
Examples:
• Filter Words (words that distance readers from the emotion and action (fewer of these will help make your writing more ‘showing’ vs ‘telling’).
• Head Hopping (switching points of view in scenes).
• Dangling & Misplaced Modifiers (what they are and how to be rid of them).
• Unnecessary words and phrases (ways to tighten your writing by eliminating them).