Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Outside Entry Title: A Daughter Finds Unexpected Discoveries on Her Father’s Favorite Trail Entry Credit: Tarn Udall Judge Comment: This is a beautifully paced and thoughtfully structured homage to the writer’s father, Randy, a larger-than-life outdoorsman with a flair for the fanciful — evident in his love for a “large slab of granite” in Wyoming called the Universe Clock. In this moving and engaging narrative, Tarn Udall encourages readers to ponder their relationship with time: How we use it, how we share it with others, and how there is never enough.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Outside Entry Title: How I Survived a Wedding in a Jungle That Tried to Eat Me Alive Entry Credit: Melissa Johnson Judge Comment: Melissa Johnson’s fraught and funny odyssey through a northern Guatemala rainforest to attend her friends’ wedding made for an endlessly entertaining narrative while offering insights into aging, adventure and perseverance. Readers might ask themselves “Why in the world is she doing this?” while anxiously devouring a story full of memorable characters, hilarious mishaps and meaningful reflections on history and culture.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Kate Nelson Entry Title: How salmon fishing helped me embrace my Alaska Native identity Entry Credit: Kate Nelson Judge Comment: This piece opens with a shocking revelation, as the author learns that her biological father was someone she had never met, an Alaska Native man. Her story delves into her tumultuous childhood, her research into her father’s tribal background and her decision to return to her birthplace in Alaska. As she describes this journey, she reveals the ways travel can connect us to our ancestors and families, even those we don’t know.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Southern Living Entry Title: Fair Hope of Success Entry Credit: Rick Bragg Judge Comment: Rick Bragg’s ode to Fair Hope, an idyllic coastal Alabama town he calls “near perfect,” included endless memorable and surprising turns of phrase, such as: “The water was as warm as blood on the surface but ice cold deeper down;” or “There, the raggediest pelican I have ever seen looked me up and down, like he knew a secret about me but was not quite ready to spill.” Bragg draws readers into Fair Hope through remembrances of his first exposure to the town. He also explores the inevitable changes it has experienced, particularly an influx of money, traffic and crowds.
