2007 Josiah W. Bancroft Sr. Novel Contest

• Winners’ Bios
• Honorable Mentions’ Bios
• Other Commendable Manuscripts

Lenore Hart and David Poyer, the final-round novel judges of the Florida First Coast Writers’ Festival, have selected the winners of the 2007 contest.

Winners’ Bios (listed by award)

Matanzas Bay by Victor DiGenti
Victor DiGenti spent thirty-five years in broadcasting as a producer, director and assorted other jobs, including producer of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, before turning to his first love: writing. Finding inspiration in his household of feline critters, he completed and published Windrusher, an adventure/fantasy that won both state and national honors. He went on to release the sequel, Windrusher and the Cave of Thohoth (Ocean Publishing, 2004). He has recently completed his first mystery/suspense novel, Matanzas Bay, and works with several non-profit boards, including Florida Writers Association. He and his wife Evanne live in Northeast Florida, where they are closely scrutinized for aberrant behavior by their many rescued felines.

The Wind that Shakes the Corn by Kaye Park Hinckley
Kaye Park Hinckley is a native of Dothan, Alabama, and a fine arts graduate of Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, with post graduate courses in creative writing at the University of Alabama. She has published short stories and poetry in several college literary magazines and is a past finalist in the 2001 short story and semi-finalist in the 2006 novel categories of the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition in New Orleans. She is also a two-time award-winner in the Florida First Coast Writers’ Festival. A short story, “Jimmy’s Cat” was published in the spring 1993 issue of The State Street Review.

Mozart’s Wife by Carlyle Johnson
Carlyle Johnson studied music composition and creative writing at the University of Iowa and presently teaches at the State University of West Georgia. The author’s interest in music and biography of composers inspired looking at the story of Mozart from the perspective of his wife. The writer lives in Carrollton, Georgia.

Honorable Mentions’ Bios (listed by authors’ last names)

Unto the Hills by Katherine S. Crawford
Katherine S. Crawford is a native of South Carolina who was raised on the land where Unto the Hills is set. She holds a BA in English and speech and communications studies, and a MA in English. A former journalist, Crawford makes her home in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she teaches literature and composition on the college level. Unto the Hills is her first novel.

S.O.B. (Short of Breath) by Dr. Carol Koenig
Dr. Carol Koenig, who is married and the mother of two grown sons, practiced family medicine on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for twenty years before her recent retirement. She holds a BA in Biology from Harpur College of the State University of New York at Binghamton, Massachusetts, in Developmental Biology from State University of New York at Stony Brook where her research thesis involved early work in cloning, MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, residency in Family Practice from Medical College of Virginia, and degree of Fellow from the American Academy of Family Physicians. She has authored several non-scientific articles published in Medical Economics and Diversion.

The Consort Conspiracy by Kaye D. Schmitz
Kaye D. Schmitz is a consultant for her own company, KDS Communications. During earlier careers as an executive sales representative with the IBM Corporation and then vice president of marketing for Jacksonville’s largest non-profit organization, she edited and wrote (without a byline) in industry and professional communications. She lives in St. Augustine with her husband Michael.

Other Commendable Manuscripts (listed by title)

Bless the Dying Ones by Sandra Bretting of Houston, Tex. Her short stories have appeared in BorderSenses Literary Journal, SouthLit.com, and Texas Magazine. A graduate of the University of Missouri, she is a feature writer for the Houston Chronicle.

The Dachshund Caper by Jean Osborn of Fernandina Beach, Fla. She started writing when the Admiral’s staff on Treasure Island in San Francisco was "right-sized" and her job was the joint inter-service research support chair was moved to Corpus Christi, Tex. Her previous writing experience had been her monthly columns in the Navy newspaper in California. A finalist in the 2006 Beacon contest, he has been published in Writer’s Magazine and is president of Florida Sisters in Crime.

A Dive in the Sand by Angela Masterson Jones of Palmetto, Fla. She has won, placed, or been a finalist in more than forty writing contests. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Anthology, Writer’s Digest, Penumbra, The St. Petersburg Times, Sunscripts, and other publications. Since 2000, she has served as a contributing editor of Palm Prints, the Literary Journal of the University of South Florida’s Lifelong Writers. She works as a copy editor for New Floridian magazine and PepperTree Press.

Deathgod by William Dean Patterson of Brunswick, Ga. With a geology degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, he served in the military and completed his master’s research in northern Mexico. He worked as an exploration geologist for several years. In college, he was a feature columnist for his student newspaper, The Prospector, and has written for The Oklahoma Constitution. He teaches at the federal training center and at Coastal Georgia Community College.

Echo of Love by Donald J. Porter of Jensen Beach, Fla. The 87-year-old is probably the oldest entrant in the contest. He is a veteran of World War II, including D-Day in Normandy, France. He landed at Omaha Beach on June 7, 1944, the day after D-Day. He was a fighter aircraft controller, using radar and radio/telephone to vector fighter pilots to their targets: Nazi aircraft or ground targets in support of the Army. He retired from the USAF after 26 years service. He has written two other books: Tales of the Twelfth Man is a collection of short stories mostly of his experiences in the Army Air Corps and the USAF. Flight to Gold is an adventure story. Echo of Love is being published by outskirtspress.com in Parker, Colo.

Fifty Demerit Day by John and Marre Stevens of Roswell, Ga. He is an Atlanta-based advertising consultant who survived secondary education at a southern military academic, while his wife is a marketing consultant who shaped his random recollections into an often hilarious and poignant story.

Into the Path of Thunder by Michael A. Green of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He is banking on success as a writer, to make a pun, because of his extensive career in banking. He will serve as the executive vice president of the Bank of North Florida. He holds an MBA from the University of West Florida and is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He recently retired as a captain in the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program, following three consecutive tours as a commanding officer with multiple assignments in the Middle East.

The Machine’s Nirvana by Nikhil Shankar of Boca Raton, Fla. At sixteen, he is likely the youngest contest entrant. He is a senior at Atlantic Community High School and has been interested in literature and writing for years. He has won several awards for his writing and concepts and hopes to reach some standard of excellence with his manuscripts.

Of Angels and Archangels by Charrie Hazard Moscardini of Safety Harbor, Fla. She is program director for membership of the Florida Center for Writers at the University of South Florida and has taught writing and literature at USF and St. Petersburg College. Before she began teaching, she worked for ten years for The St. Petersburg Times, first as an investigative reporter, then as an editorial board member and op-ed page columnist. She has won six major journalism awards and other writing awards from the National League of American Pen Women and other groups. She has already found a publisher for her novel entry.

Out of Chaos by Marisa Carbone Finotti of Atlantic Beach, Fla. She is a former television journalist who now teaches high school. She is co-author of The Insider’s Guide to Jacksonville and wrote an award-winning screenplay that has been optioned by a Hollywood producer: Bessie: The Bessie Coleman Story.

Second Thoughts by Bobbie O’Keefe of San Mateo, Calif. She took third place in the 2006 novel contest of the Writers’ Festival with her novel, Texas Moon. Another novel, The House on Copper Street won second place in the 2005 Red River Romance Writers contest. She has also had fillers published in the Catholic Digest and Chevron magazine.

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