Just as Katherine and I were beginning to comb through all the many wonderful entries to this contest in search of our twelve finalists, I came across a general conference talk about holidays from L. Tom Perry called "A Meaningful Celebration." Speaking in 1987, Elder Perry reflects on then-recent celebrations of various anniversaries within the church and describes the work that holidays do within our souls.
Holidays provide a means through which we can enact the Book of Mormon's repeated refrain to remember the past. Elder Perry points out the ways that the Biblical festivals and their associated "traditions preserved the religious faith and strengthened the spiritual fiber of Israel." Many of our contest entries pulled on this need to "remember our spiritual heritage": Ali Moulton's beautiful reminder of early pioneer sacrifices in "d. 11 April 1847 Winter Quarters," the Mormon connections to traditional saints' days in Michelle Graabek-Wallace's "Three Saints Days," James Goldberg's projection of the development of specifically LDS holiday traditions into the future in "Tastes of Hope and Sorrow," even Scott Hale's humorous contrast between current holiday expectations and past religious practices in "A Christmas in Orderville."
Elder Perry also talked about the work holidays do for our relationships. Holidays are a time of "uniting the tribes to form a closer union," "times of building a sense of community, a time of reaffirming a brotherhood and sisterhood shared by everyone, a time of bonding families together." Many of finalists explored the joy and the pain of family relationships at the holidays. Lara Niedermeyer and Jeanine Bee reminded us of the way that holidays can punctuate the tapestry of a life in "Twenty-five Valentine's Days Ago" and "The History of a Christmas Carol," while Annaliese Lemmon and Micah Cozzens reminded us of how the pain of loss during the holidays with "Multiversal Mother's Day" and "Viewing Christmas Displays as a Family, Post-Divorce," while Jeanna Mason Stay reminded us of the needed balance between doing and celebrating in "A Wolfenoot Carol."
Of course, the piece of holiday work most relevant for a literary contest is their work as a cultural force. The holidays, Elder Perry said, are a time for "sharing talents and accomplishments," a time that bring out "advancements in the arts." All of our finalists were innovative and interesting, but I was especially struck by the unique ideas presented in a few of them. The connection between spring imagery and a meditation on mortality in Merrijane Rice's "Easter Morning" will always be present when I think about Easter. The way Lee Allred smoothly fuses Halloween and Christmas storytelling in "Vlad Tidings" is a marvel. And Mario Montani's reframing of creation as "The Celebration" has deep implication for the way I conceive of God's purposes for the world. But really, every piece has touched my soul in some way and hopefully yours as well.
Thank you to everyone who read the finalists in this year’s contest. We loved sharing these pieces with you! It's wonderful to see voters support their favorite writers and discover new voices. We're now ready to announce the Audience Choice winner and the Judge's Choice award.
Audience Choice Award
In audience voting, the top four pieces are:
4th place:
"Tastes of Hope and Sorrow" by James Goldberg
3rd place:
"Vlad Tidings" by Lee Allred
2nd place:
"La Celebracion"/"The Celebration" by Mario Montani
and
1st place:
"Twenty-five Valentine's Days Ago" by Lara Niedermeyer
Judge's Choice Award
In addition to the audience choice award, we ask a guest judge to honor another piece for its quality of writing. This year's judge is Amy Parker, Senior Marketing Manager at Deseret Book.
More about Amy Parker:
Amy Parker’s professional background in the publishing industry has seen her lead the Marketing for the last seven years, first at Covenant Communications, and currently for the National Team (Shadow Mountain Publishing) at Deseret Book. As an avid reader she has spent over fifteen years reviewing and recommending books for national publishers. Marketing books is a passion along with traveling with her family. She is married, a mum to five, and two lively beagles. Originally from England, she has explored various destinations across Europe and Asia.
This year's judge's choice award goes to:
"d. 11 April 1847 Winter Quarters" by Ali Benson Moulton
Judge's Statement
Thank you for the opportunity to review the finalists of short Mormon literature focused on the holidays. One piece really stood out to me. The short poem, "11 April 1847 Winter Quarters," resonated with me. Church History and traveling to locations of significant importance to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been part of my life for the last 10 years. Those places have become significant to me personally, but also to those around me who have discovered their family ties to these places. The author speaks of something we are very familiar with as a wider community. We travel to these places, out of interest, possessing varying levels of knowledge of the history. Attempting to share what we know with our children so they can catch the vision of what happened in these places too. Those visits are fleeting, but the hope is we retain those memories. The places and the people who lived and died there. Sometimes suffering many trials in the quest for faith and devotion to God, in our hearts.
Next Contest
In the spring we'll be holding a normal Mormon Lit Blitz contest. To receive an email when the submission details are available, please sign up for our newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook.
Thanks again for joining us for the Holiday Lit Blitz!
-Liz Busby and Katherine Cowley, guest editors
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