May 22, 2002

Contact: Travis Fahey

802-443-5198

tfahey@middlebury.edu

Posted: May 22, 2002

MIDDLEBURY,

VT- A poet and an author of fiction have won the 2002 Bakeless Literary

Publication Prizes presented by the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’

Conference.

The

prizes, established in honor of a long-time supporter of Middlebury College,

are awarded to aid and encourage writers seeking publication of their

first books. Ursula Hegi, an award-winning author of fiction and former

professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University, chose

Sara Pritchard’s “Crackpots” as the winner of the fiction prize.

Yusef Komunyakaa, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet, chose Jennifer Grotz’s

“Cusp” for the poetry prize. There were no prize winners in

creative nonfiction for 2002.

The

winners receive fellowships to attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

in August 2003. Their works are then published in Houghton Mifflin’s Mariner

Original Paperback line.

Jennifer Grotz received a master of arts in both poetry and English at

Indiana University in 1996, and completed her bachelor of arts in English

at Tulane University in 1993. She is currently pursuing her doctorate

in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston. Grotz’s

poems have appeared in literary journals such as Tri-Quarterly, Ploughshares,

New England Review and Black Warrior Review. Grotz is also the author

of “Not Body,” a collection of poetry published in 2001 by Urban

Editions.

Sara

Pritchard is a student in the master of arts program in creative writing

at West Virginia University. She completed her bachelor of arts degree

in English at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa.

Under the pseudonym Delta B. Horne, Pritchard’s stories and essays have

been printed in publications such as Northwest Review, Arts & Letters

and Bellingham Review. She is currently the publications coordinator for

Canaan Valley Institute, a non-profit organization based in Thomas, W.Va.

Complete guidelines for the 2003 Bakeless Nason Literary Publication Prizes

are currently available. Judges for the 2003 prizes will be Jay Parini

for fiction, Ted Conover for creative nonfiction and Louise Glück

for poetry. For more information, contact Ian Pounds at Bakeless Prizes,

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753;

by phone at 802-443-2018; or by

e-mail at bakeless@middlebury.edu.