Quiaira B. Terrell-White Andranique Green
Two Huston-Tillotson University students, Quiaira B. Terrell-White and Andranique Green have earned first and second place, respectively, in the Fourth Annual “Healing Stories Creative Writing Contest” sponsored by Tuckson Health Connections.
According to contest details, the initiative is “targeted to the creative writing community of HBCU institutions and is designed to stimulate students to create and share works of poetry, fiction, and memoir or autobiography that explore elements of the struggle to achieve health and wholeness as well as the burdens associated with coping with illness.”
Terrell-White and Green were two of more than 50 students from over 20 HBCUs across the country to enter the contest. With more than 60 entries in the poetry category alone, contest organizers referred to this year’s numbers of submissions as a “banner year”.
The competition is an opportunity for students to develop their talent, showcase their work, make an important social contribution to the healing arts, and have the opportunity to earn prize rewards. The contest offered a $1,000 first place prize, a $500 second place prize, and a $250 third place prize in each category. Additionally, noteworthy submissions will be published on the Tuckson Health Connections website and actively promoted via social and other media.
Ms. Terrell-White’s first-place Short Story is entitled “My Sister’s Keeper“. The contest judges said her story is “well-crafted, complete with distinct and full-bodied characters, sparse prose and clever dialogue… Each word is poised to move the story forward. This writer’s talent is undeniable.”
Ms. Green’s second-place Poetry entry is entitled “Unspoken” and is about a young woman involved in a traumatic experience who meets another woman enduring the same pain – they don’t have to exchange words because their emotional, physical and spiritual wounds are unspoken.