SUNY Brockport student wins prestigious writing award

Hilton High School counselor wins international writing award

Sonja Livingston, a graduate student in the Department of English at the State University of New York College at Brockport and a counselor in the Hilton High School, won an international creative writing award for a nonfiction essay she wrote while enrolled in the fall 2001 Creative Essay class taught by Judith Kitchen, SUNY Brockport lecturer and writer-in-residence.

Livingston received an Intro Award from the Associated Writing Programs organization. The award is given annually following the judging of hundreds of entries from students enrolled at AWP member institutions. Winners receive a cash honorarium and are published in one of nine national literary journals participating with the AWP. Livingston's essay will appear in the Winter 2002 edition of Puerto del Sol, a nationally recognized literary journal produced at New Mexico State University.

Kitchen describes Livingston's nonfiction essay "Our Fathers" as "beautifully written, funny and poignant." She also noted that the Intro Award is a major accomplishment for a young writer, "especially at this stage in her career."

Livingston says that the award has made her look at her writing avocation in a new light. "Writing, up until now, had been a hobby for me. Now, I'll probably look at it more seriously," she said.