|
The 6th Annual
Jeannie Gray Golden Friendship Award
What is this award?
It is
the intention of the members of the GH99er
loop that this award ~
$100 and a beautiful certificate
~
be used by an unpublished writer who has entered the current
Golden Heart®
Contest, sponsored by Romance Writers of America,
to offset the costs of entry into that
contest.
However, this award is in no way affiliated with RWA or any
of its contests.
One recipient
for the 2009 Jeannie Gray Golden Friendship Award
will be chosen by the members of the GH99er loop based on
the essays submitted.
Essay topics vary every year.
Note: Entrants
must have entered the 2009 Golden Heart®
contest and provide proof of entry
to the JGGFA coordinator in order to be eligible for
this award.
To be considered for this year’s award
please submit a 250-300 word essay on the following topic
along
with proof of entry in the Golden Heart®
2009 Contest:
What work of fiction has had the
greatest impact on your writing and why?
Deadline for submission of essay: Midnight EST,
February 1st, 2009.
Submit your essay in the body of an email.
Proof of entry into the GH may be sent in a separate email.
Send entry to:
JGessay99@aol.com
Emails with attachments will be deleted without opening.
Confirmation of receipt will be by return email.
The 2009 award recipient will be notified by email on or
before February 21st, 2009. A mailing address must be provided
to the award coordinator at that time in order to receive
the award. In applying for this award you agree that all
decisions made by the members of the Jeannie Gray Golden
Friendship Award group are final.
In March, 1999 a small band of
writers, mostly unknown to each other at the
time, became finalists in the Romance Writers of
America Golden Heart®
contest for unpublished writers. One of our
group created an email loop for
the finalists and many of us quickly became
acquaintances, then friends, and finally family.
There are approximately 32 members still active
on the loop. We lost one of our sisters, Jeannie
Gray, to cancer, in March of 2004.
Jeannie was a lovely, giving person, and a
talented writer. She finaled twice in the Golden Heart®,
and had one of those manuscripts under consideration at the
time of her passing. She was a high honors graduate of
Portland State University with a degree in speech
communications, a degree she sought after her three children
were grown. When her children were small, she traveled with
her husband Gary, serving as a missionary, living out of a
backpack at times. A soft, caring woman who gave great hugs,
she was also amazingly strong. She once fended off a
carjacker alone. To those who knew her, her most beloved
quality was her optimism. She once wrote, "I like to say
that I am Directionally Challenged. Can't find my way out of
a revolving door. I have been known, while following
specific directions, to drive 100 miles on the right highway
-- in the wrong direction." But Jeannie was always looking
for the silver lining. "Actually," she wrote, "I consider it
a gift instead of a burden. I've seen so many wonderful
places I never would have seen if I hadn't been wandering
around lost."
To honor this incredible woman and gifted writer who was
brought into our lives through her writing, we, her 99er
sisters and her family, have created
The Jeannie Gray Golden Friendship Award
to help other
writers enter the Golden Heart®
contest
so they may reach for their dreams as Jeannie strove
towards hers.
|
