EUGENE, Ore. -- (April 15, 2011) -- The six winners of Oregon Quarterly's 12th annual Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest will read their essays on Wednesday, May 4, at the University of Oregon. The readings will take place at 7 p.m. in the Gerlinger Alumni Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

The reading will feature "The Friday's Trilogy" by 2011 open category contest winner Kim Cooper Findling of Bend and "Body, Metal and Pine" by student category winner Michelle Crowson of Salt Lake City, Utah. Attendees will also hear the second- and third-place winners read from their essays: "A Flyway Runs Through It" by Dwight Holing of Orinda, Calif., and "A Mountain Waltz" by Heidi Shayla of Eugene in the open category; "Tart Raspberries" by Chloe Rambo of Farmington, Wash., and "The Sisters of Green Hill Road" by Isolde Raftery of Eugene in the student category.

This year's judge is Debra Gwartney, author of the memoir "Live Through This," who will speak at the event. Gwartney was winner of the first Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest in 2000.

The Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest is an annual competition sponsored by Oregon Quarterly magazine and The Duck Store. The contest, featuring previously unpublished writings about the Northwest, is open to nonfiction writers competing in student and open categories.

The winner in the open category receives $750 and publication in the summer 2011 issue of Oregon Quarterly, which is distributed to nearly 100,000 readers. The student winner receives $500; the second- and third-place writers in both categories also receive cash prizes.

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
Source: Guy Maynard, 541-346-5048, gmaynard@uoregon.edu
Link: Oregon Quarterly, http://OregonQuarterly.com

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