Insight

              Emerging Writers winners announced
December 4
Electronic Resource Exposition (E-R-XPO)
Schaumburg District Township Library
December 10
Illinois State Library Advisory Committee
Illinois State Library
December 12
ISL Talking Book and Braille Service
Advisory Committee Meeting
Illinois State Library
November/December
2008
A Newsletter from the Illinois State Library — Jesse White, Secretary of State & State Librarian
in this issue
Emerging Writers winners
announced
ILA Annual Conference
Illinois Authors Wiki
Illinois OCLC Users Group
2009 Synergy conferences
Illinois Digitization
Institute
Secretary of State Jesse White has
announced the winners of the fourth
annual Illinois Emerging Writers
Competition. White created the
competition to promote writing and
creativity and to provide a unique
opportunity and outlet for recogniz-ing
new literary talent in the state.
“I’m delighted to congratulate these
very talented individuals,” said
Secretary White. “Illinois has a
long history of producing outstand-ing
writers, and I hope all the writ-ers
who entered the contest this
year will continue writing and
inspiring us with their poems and
short stories.”
Winners of the Gwendolyn Brooks
Poetry Award are:
1st place — Thea Chesley of
Springfield for her poem
“Rendezvous, Rue de Ursulines”
2nd place — Peggy Davis of Mt.
Vernon for her poem “Bearing
Witness”
3rd place — Fawn Hoener of
Springfield for her poem “Hot Flash”
Winners of the James Jones Short
Story Award are:
1st place — Peggy Stortz of Galena
for her story “Night Visitor”
2nd place — John Gabriel of Joliet
for his story “Just Sort of Out of
Sight”
3rd place — John J. Flaherty of
Bloomingdale for his story
“BUMS”
Kevin Stein, who succeeded
Gwendolyn Brooks as Illinois poet
laureate, served as final judge for
the poetry contest. Kaylie Jones,
author and daughter of legendary
Illinois writer James Jones (From
Here to Eternity), and Helen Howe
of the James Jones Literary Society
were final judges for the short story
contest.
The winners of both awards will
receive $500-first place, $300-sec-ond
place and $100-third place.
The winners’ short stories also will
be submitted to Ninth Letter maga-zine
and Downstate Story magazine
for possible publication. Winning
poems will be submitted to RHINO
magazine, Ninth Letter magazine
and Another Chicago Magazine.
The Illinois Emerging Writers
Competition is a joint venture of
the Illinois Center for the Book, for
which Secretary White serves as
honorary chair, the Illinois State
Library and the James Jones Literary
Society. The James Jones Literary
Society provided generous financial
support for the competition.
To read the winning entries, visit
www.illinoiscenterforthebook.org.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois • December 2008
ILLINOIS DIGITIZATION INSTITUTE —
The Illinois Digitization Institute provides training in
the theory and practice of digitization to library,
archives and museum employees. In October, two
groups of librarians from foreign countries visited the
State Library for workshops conducted by ISL Digital
Imaging Program manager Alyce Scott.
One group of librarians (left) came from Ghana,
Uganda, Nigeria and Tanzania. The second group
(above) traveled from Uzbekistan, Kenya, South
Korea, Ghana, Bahrain, Palestine, Vietnam, Nigeria,
Japan and Colombia.
People at the State Library
Debbie Choate, technical specialist in the Collection
Management Section, celebrated 30 years with the State Library.
H. Neil Kelley of the Library Development Group, a consultant
who specializes in issues related to trustees, library systems
and library construction grants, marked 20 years with the State
Library.
Andrew Bullen, coordinator of the Information Technology
Section, recently published an article in Computers in Libraries
(www.infotoday.com/cilmag/oct08/Bullen.shtml).
Tina Hubert, former State Library consultant and current direc-tor
of the Lewis and Clark Library System, has been named to
the Library Systems Standards Committee.
LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL BOOKMARKS —
As part of the State Library’s commemoration of the
200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln in
February 2009, six collectible bookmarks have been
created by the State Library with fun facts, trivia and
other information about Illinois’ No. 1 son and
America’s 16th President. A limited supply of book-marks
is available by calling 217-782-2994 or e-mailing
pmcguckin@ilsos.net.