SWW Wins Big in NMPW Communications Contest!

SWW Authors Win Big in New Mexico Press Women’s Contest

Several SWW members had already reported that their entries in the 2024 NMPW Communications Contest won awards, but as of this week the entire list of winners was released and we are very proud to congratulate many of our members for their achievements!

Both of the SWW Anthologies from last year have also garnered prizes.

Of the 173 prizes awarded for the NMPW communications contest, SWW members won 51.  That’s 29%!

Also, NMPW recognized several individuals whose collective works have pushed social or literary boundaries, naming them Courageous Communicators.  The SWW members so recognized include:  Loretta Hall, Sherri Burr, Regina Griego, Leonie Rosenstiel, and Rose Marie Kern. 

The following is a list of the SWW members and their awards.   

SouthWest Writers as a group won two awards:

• Woven Pathways won 3rd place for a Collection of Short Stories written by Multiple Authors
• Holes in Our Hearts  won 2nd place for a Collection of Short Stories written by Multiple Authors

SWW Member Elizabeth Rose was runner up for the prestigious 2025 Zia Book Award with her non-fiction tale When Cows Wore Shoes.

Additionally, Elizabeth won two Honorable Mentions:  One in the Collection of Short Stories category for ” The Long, The Short and the Tall/Tales of a New American, and another in the Single poem category for “Listening for Your Return.  Congratulations Elizabeth!

Many of the authors in both SWW anthologies, and some independent SWW members,  entered and won for individual pieces.

• Kathleen Hessler won 1st place in the Specialty articles: Personal Essay category for “Precious Penny”.
• Linda Buss won 2nd Place in Fiction for “Cradle in the Wild”.
• Allen Herring won 3rd Place in the Single Story category for “Wallflowers”.
• Gency Brown took 1st place in the Fiction Novel for Adult Readers category for her debut novel A “Right Fine Life”
• Joe Cappello was awarded Honorable Mention in the Single Story category for “They Only Showed Elvis from the Waist Up.”
• William Fisher won 2nd Place in the Novels category for “The Price of the Sky”.
• Anna Sochocky received two awards: A 2nd place in the Magazine Article category for “Trauma to Trust” and and Honorable Mention in the Agriculture article category for “Suffering from Sand Colic”
• Vicki Mayhew won 1st Place in Fiction for “How the Unicorn Said Goodbye”
• Mike Hays won 2nd place in the Essay, Chapter or Section in a Book category for “So Many Wars”
• Margaret Shannon won Honorable Mention in the Biography/History category for “Abbey-Ashman: Two Colonial and Pioneering Families of North America Volume 2: The Alden Ancestors”
• Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola won two 1st Place awards.  The first was in the Online Publication Category for “New Archive of Santa Fe Clery Abuse Documents Hailed as Unprecedented”  and a 1st place in the Religion category for “Navajo Catholics Upset after Franciscans Transfer Historic Mission to Local Diocese.
• Elaine Montague won 1st Place for “Musings of a Locked-Out Wife” in the Blog Category for her experiences during Covid when she was not allowed to visit her husband in an assisted living facility, even when he became mortally ill.  She also won Honorable Mentions in the Single Poem category for “Marionettes” and the Arts and Entertainment Category for “Let’s Network!”
• Kathy Louise Schuit, the  SAGE Newsletter editor, won a second place with NMPW, in the category of Print or Online Publications regularly edited by Entrant, Newsletter/other Publication, Nonprofit, Government, or Educational. Kathy also won a Third place in the category of  Books, Short Stories, Verse, Essay, Chapter or Section in a Book, for her story,  “Weightless,” which was published in the Woven Pathways anthology.
• Jasmine Tritten won 2nd place for her specialty article on physical health entitled “When Life Turns” [included in Holes in Our Hearts]  and Honorable Mention for her personal essay “Trickles in Paris”.
• Paula Nixon won 3rd place in the Editorial/Opinion category for “To Honor Veterans Listen to Their Stories”.

• Jim Tritten, Joe Badal, and Dan Wetmore won 1st place in the book editing category for Holes in Our Hearts.
• Sara Frances won a 1st place in the Book Design category for “Unplugged Voices”.
• Rosa Armijo-Pemble received an Honorable Mention in the Short Stories category for “Just Care: A Lesson in Possibilities.”
• Leonie Rosenstiel won several awards. Third Place for her series of articles on AI (published in The Sage during 2023), Honorable Mention for her chapter “Military Patterns” in Holes in Our Hearts, Honorable Mention for her  interview on the podcast Bump in the Road, entitled “The Reality of Guardianship.”  Additionally, Leonie received the special Courageous Communicator award for her fiction and nonfiction.
• Jim Tritten won several awards including: 1st place: “Papal Blessings” [Specialty Articles, Travel], 2nd place for “Living with an Alien” [Specialty Articles, Personal essay], 3rd place for “Holes in Our Hearts Goes Statewide” [1C News Story, Online publication], “Elusive Answers” [Specialty Articles, History], and a 3rd place Sweepstakes Award, Individual, 3rd place.
• Pat Walkow won two awards: A 1st Place for her Memoir “Life Lessons from the Color Yellow” and and Honorable Mention in the Novels category for “Alchemy’s Reach”.
• Sherri Burr won several awards including: 1st place:  Speech  “The Underground Railroad: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom”,  1st Place The Writing Life: Diana Gabadon, 1st Place –  Humorous “The Writing Life: Grace” 1st Place – General “The Writing Life: Spare”   2nd Place – Editorial/Opinion “Problematic Baldwin Case Could Have Been Even Worse Worse at Trial”, 2nd Place Informational (how-to, Q&A, advice) “The Writing Life: Shifting Priorities”, Honorable Mention-Essay, Chapter, or Section in a Book “My Brothers Guardian” in Holes in Our Heart, Honorable Mention – Personal opinion “The Writing Life: The Yellowstone Universe”
• Regina Griego won three awards:  1st place in Podcast for “Regina Griego-Transcending Futures”,  1st Place in Interview of more than 750 words for “An Interview with Author Regina Griego” and 2nd Place for an articles of 750 words or fewer “Writing for Healing and Social Change”.
• Congratulations Everyone!