Remaining winners for the West Virginia South adventure-themed contests for short fiction and photography, sponsored by Mountain State University, have been named.

Last week, contest organizers announced first place went to Karen Mc-Bride of Jumping Branch. Her entry, “The Snipe Surprise,” will appear in the December-January issue of West Virginia South, which is due on newsstands at the end of this month.

Second place was awarded to Jessica Hammad-Arshad of Beckley for “From Beauty to Darkness.” Hammad-Arshad’s story will appear in the February-March issue of the magazine.

Third place was awarded to Virginia Rachel of Hinton for “Thelma and Jack.” Her story will appear in West Virginia South’s April-May issue.

Honorable mention awards, which will also appear in future issues of West Virginia South, went to Kayla Berry of Rainelle for “Racing the River,” Kait Cantley of Surveyor for “The Unanticipated Breakthrough” and Melody Canterbury of Lester for “13 Bottles.”

Entries for the fiction portion of the contest were read by members of the Beckley Newspapers editorial management staff, who selected the first-place winner and 10 candidates for other honors. Those 10 finalists were then given to an English professor at Mountain State University to make final decisions regarding second and third place, plus honorable mentions.

Award recipients will receive letters from West Virginia South in early December, to be followed by payment for their prizes. First place receives $125, second place $75 and third place $50. Honorable mentions receive one-year subscriptions to West Virginia South.

Other entries of interest are being considered for possible publication with permission from their authors. Those writers will also be notified in early December.

“We had so many wonderful entries it was very difficult to select only six for publication,” said Audrey Stanton, the magazine’s director of operations.



As was announced last week, judging has been completed for the photography category.

First place was awarded to Michael Brown of Beckley. His entry, “Symphony,” depicts a friend fishing at the spillway of Bluestone Dam at Hinton. It is also slated to appear in the upcoming issue of West Virginia South.

Second place went to Erin Perdue of Ceredo for “Praying Mantis.”

Carol Jones of Alderson took third place for “Docked on the Greenbrier.”

And remaining honorable mentions were awarded to Jessie Hall of Bolt for “In Tune With Nature,” Erika Snuffer of Fayetteville for “Celebrating Wild and Wonderful” and Linda Snuffer of Cool Ridge for “Country Road, Cool Ridge.”

Entries for the photography portion of the contest were reviewed by staff photographers for Beckley Newspapers and West Virginia South. The six winners will appear in upcoming issues of West Virginia South.

Questions and comments should be e-mailed to bnaudrey@register-herald.com.