2016 Winners of the Mimi Schwartz Creative Nonfiction Awards
First prize ($125): Ashlie Hyer for “Wishful Thinking”
Second prize ($75): Medgina Saint-Elien for “The Nature of Hair”
Honorable mention: Emily Dolhansky for “And You Will Survive”
Ashlie Hyer graduated cum laude with a major in Literature in May 2016. Her fiction
has appeared in the national literary journal Hobart.
Medgina Saint-Elien is a junior majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in
Writing and Sociology. Her journalism has appeared in national online magazines and
blogs such as HerCampus, Adorned in Armor, and Byrdie. The Vice President of Stockapella,
she also works at Stockton's art gallery and will begin tutoring in the Writing Center
this fall. She received an honorable mention for the Stephen Dunn poetry award in
Spring 2015.
Emily Dolhansky, a May 2016 graduate, is pursuing a Master of Forest Science at Yale's
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on climate change adaptation
in relation to forests. At Stockton she majored in Environmental Studies with a concentration
in Forestry and a minor in Writing. She enjoys nature writing in particular.
This year’s contest judge, Cynthia Inman Graham, is a retired teacher of English
as a Second Language and Special Education. She has traveled the world, living and
teaching in Israel, Kenya, Laos, and Outback Australia. After taking writing classes
at Stockton, she has published creative nonfiction essays and opinion pieces in Brevity,
FATE, the Notebook: A Progressive Journal about Women & Girls with Rural & Small Town
Roots, Andrea Reads America, the Sandpaper, various blogs, and the Stockpot. She is
the 2012 winner of the Mimi Schwartz Creative Nonfiction Award.
As Graham points out, artful storytelling makes readers feel as if they know the
characters: “I read [Ashlie Hyer’s] ‘Wishful Thinking’ many times. Each time I thought,
‘I remember this girl. She was in one of my classes. She wore black and was so smart
and funny, one of my favorites.’ The writer has created a middle school voice so true,
as a reader I heard her even after I finished reading. I realized after my third reading,
I was smiling as I read. The voice echoed with angst, humor, and the wisdom gained
from the distance of time passed. The writer crafted descriptions of how it feels
to live with Tourette’s, Asperger’s, and ever present anxiety.
“She plunks us right down in our graffitied desk during study hall. Through her use
of interior dialogues—‘Please, please, please. Please finish the article before you
get to me’ and ‘Holy crap! That’s a note! I’ve been passed a note!—we are allowed
to travel the halls of Williams Middle School inside of [Ashlie’s] head and suffer
along with her.
“The writer introduces us (or should I say reintroduces us, because we remember these
kids) to [Ashlie’s] fellow students, Shane Hannigan, the mean boy, and Casey Wilson,
the popular girl who tells [Ashlie], ‘If you wore a little make up, you might actually
look pretty’ and follows up by asking her if she has a ‘death list’ (my very favorite
part). Of course, Casey, like any good middle schooler, adds the classic ‘No offense.’
“[Ashlie], vulnerable as we all are at age twelve and thirteen, shares, ‘Here’s the
thing about middle school me. I really hated people, but I also wanted friends. People
terrified me, and I liked to terrify them, but I also wanted them to like me, to treat
me like a human being.’ The interior dialogue says everything, as it should.
“As a reader (and a teacher and mother) I was relieved when [Ashlie] and Alice became
friends and I cheered as she rose to walk at middle school graduation because I believed
in her. ‘Courage,’ [Ashlie]. You made it.
“In ‘The Nature of Hair’ [by Medgina Saint-Elien] the writer explains, ‘I made a
deal with Mother Nature to never give in to the straight hair rule created by society.
I rebelliously owned my natural hair.’ The reader journeys with her to the ‘Spotless
Unisex salon’ in Elizabeth, NJ and sits with her for hours throughout the process
of having her hair painstakingly twisted into tiny swirls. We listen to the humor
of Paul whose razor ‘is almost as quick as his comebacks’ and Sheilla whose side of
the salon ‘speaks loud and brave which perfectly gels into who Sheilla is.’ ‘Gels’
is only one of the perfect verbs the writer employs in this piece. We hear the neighborhood
cop comment on politics. ‘You got people shouting at these rallies: Go back to your
country! But you can’t return stolen goods, sister.’ Crafting gentle dialogue, the
writer introduces us to her complex characters and their histories. By sitting in
the chair and listening with her ears, we understand why by the end of the process
she feels ‘free and ready to conquer the world.’”
In choosing Emily Dolhansky’s “And You Will Survive” for honorable mention, Graham
notes, “The essay begins with an experience of childhood bravery in the face of bee
stings and not being ‘governed by the principle of death.’ Then moves into a realization
of mortality that overwhelms the narrator. The topic of anxiety is a common theme
in creative nonfiction and must be crafted carefully so that the reader does not perceive
the narrator as ‘whiny’ or maudlin. This piece has achieved the balance necessary
to allow the reader to remain sympathetic, carried along by the rhythms and structure
of the story.’”
The Writing Program congratulates Ashlie Hyer, Medgina Saint-Elien, and Emily Dolhansky
on their outstanding work and encourages them to keep writing and submitting.
The Mimi Schwartz Creative Nonfiction Contest is funded by donations and judged anonymously.
Every year, the Writing Program invites the winners of its student contests to read
their prize essays aloud at a Writing Program Showcase, which is open to the public.
Please watch for the announcement of the next Showcase, which will be held on the
Stockton main campus in Spring 2017.
Judy Copeland
Associate Professor, Writing Program
