Awards and Prize Money:

Attention Florida Pen Women: This link takes you to a short survey about the 2009 conference: www.surveymonkey.com/s/WQGVZYX - The survey is for ANY AND ALL Florida PW who would like to respond -- the first two questions ask whether members entered a contest or attended the conference -- and if not, why not. The last five questions are about the conference itself. Your responses will help us in planning the 2011 conference. Thank you!
 

Click here to read minutes from 11/21/2009 meeting

FSA Conference Contest Winners
By Anne W. Anderson, 2009 FSA Contests Chair

Prize money in the amount of $4,430 awarded to more than 40 Florida Pen Women from around the state at the FSA-NLAPW 2009 Circus of the Arts Conference last month.

Dori Popenoe, an Art member of the Boca Raton branch for more than 30 years, was named Pen Woman of the Year for her service to the organization at the national, state and local levels (see sidebar). Pat Setser and Phoebe Marner, treasurer and co-president of the Jacksonville branch respectively, received the nominations and selected non-member professional women as judges. 

Meletha Everett, an Art and Letters member from the Tampa branch, received the Individual Achievement Award (see sidebar). Yvonne VanDerLinden, co-president of the St. Augustine branch, received the nominations and selected non-member professional women as judges. 

The Pen Woman of the Year and Individual Achievement Awards were presented at the Saturday luncheon. Dori and Meletha each received a certificate and a check for $100.

Melany Duquin Smith received the Pen Woman Scholarship in the amount $1,200, subject to conditions of enrollment in and completion of an approved course in ProTech software, to help further her music career.

Letters and Music awards were presented at the Ringmaster’s Banquet on Friday evening in the Boathouse at the Sarasota Hyatt Regency. Hosted by a terrific trio of spirited clowns—Sharon Cobb, Letters Member-at-Large; Sheila Firestone, Music member from Boca Raton; and Shirley Jordan, Letters Member-at-Large—the evening featured music-themed hats handed out at the door, courtesy of Sheila; a hand-knit boa, courtesy of Shirley, and a card with a clown picture and poem, courtesy of Sharon, at each place setting; zingy one-liners, paper streamers, and more. The three read excerpts from some of the Letters entries, and Sheila worked magic with a boom box so we could hear excerpts from the Music entries.

Letters contest winners, who received certificates and checks, were:

• Short Memoir, Published or Unpublished: 1^st – Beverly Hanson, Daytona Beach, Trina; 2^nd – Nancy A. Draper, Vero Beach, My Mother’s Secret Death from AIDS

• Short Non-Fiction Essays and Articles, Unpublished: 1^st – Shirley Drake Jordan, Member-at-Large, The Swamp; 2^nd – Sandy Huff, Clearwater, Manatee Watching at Halloween

• Short Non-Fiction Essays and Articles, Published: 1^st – Sandy Huff, Clearwater, Terra Cotta Warriors; 2^nd – Barbara Routen, Tampa, Art Classes Help Female Inmates “Escape” from Prison

• Young Adult Works, Published or Unpublished: 1^st – Mary Dall, Cape Canaveral, Bob!

• Juvenile Works, Published or Unpublished: 1^st – Amy Elder, Sarasota, What Am I? Under the Sea from A to Z; 2^nd – Diana Etheridge, Cape Canaveral, Cook-n-Rhyme with Kids

• Short Fiction, Published or Unpublished: Annette Clifford, Cape Canveral, The Children’s Lesson

• Structured Poetry, Published: 1^st – Sandy Fink, Gainesville, Picasso on Art; 2^nd – Rita Olesen, Gainesville, No Greater Love

• Structured Poetry, Unpublished: 1^st – Marlene Klotz, Boca Raton, He Ruined the Moment;   2^nd – Jacqueline Moffett, Boca Raton, Hands Folded in Prayer

• Free Form Poetry, Published: 1^st – Elizabeth Fay Picardi, Cape Canaveral, Stretching Curtains; 2^nd – Katherine A. Sherin-Zauner, Sarasota, Explorer’s Reportage

• Free Form Poetry, Unpublished: 1^st – Gilda Kreuter, Boca Raton, Time, You Thief; 2^nd – Marlowe Olson Arnold, Vero Beach, Progress?; 3^rd – Katherine A. Sherin-Zauner, Sarasota, One More Dance; HM – Sharon E. Cobb, Member-at-Large, Caged Cockatiel; HM – Sandy Huff, Clearwater, Dad’s Death

• Adult Fiction Book or Play, Unpublished: 1^st – Annette Clifford, Cape Canaveral, Menopause Rocks; 2^nd – Alice A. Moerk, Sarasota, Ain’s Song

• Adult Fiction Book or Play, Published: 1^st – Charrie Hazard Moscardini, Clearwater, Falling Into the Sun

• Adult Non-Fiction Book, Published or Unpublished: 1^st – Amy Elder, Sarasota, Images of America: Sarasota; 2^nd – Anna Flowers, Cape Canaveral, Wanton Woman

Judging the Letters competition were Anne Bingham, a Wisconsin writer whose fiction and poetry has appeared in various literary magazines and who produces education material for all ages for textbook and religious publishers, and Julie Hedgepeth Williams, professor of media history at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, who previously worked as a newspaper reporter and whose latest book, Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama, is being released in January.

Music contest winners, who received certificates and checks, were:

• Instrumental Music: 1^st – Christine Arens, Orlando/Winter Park, Twilight Interlude; 2^nd – Alice A. Moerk, Sarasota, Peace; 3^rd – Halide K. Smaith, Sarasota, If I Were Three

• Vocal Music: 1^st – Melany Smith – Keep on Growing; 2^nd – Alice A. Moerk, Sarasota, Song of Emily Dickinson; 3^rd – Sheila Firestone, Boca Raton, Refuah Sh’leymah

Judging the Music competition was Beth Weimann, professor of music composition and chair of the music division at the University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts in Orono and a member of the Society of Composers.

The Abracadabra Art Magic awards reception, held at Art Center Sarasota featured 56 works selected from the more than 130 entries received. Sarasota members, coordinated by Margaret Mills and under the direction of Zachary Gilliland, exhibition coordinator, received the works Friday morning and had them hung Friday afternoon.  A PowerPoint presentation of all the entries received (except slide entries) played during the reception.

The dessert reception also featured the presenting of the Florida State Association quilt, made during Jeanne Rochford’s term, to national president Taylor Collins for hanging in the Pen Arts Building in Washington, D.C.

Art contest winners, who received ribbons and checks, were:

• Best of Show: Margaret H. Mills, Sarasota, The Entertainers, Watercolor

• Awards of Excellence: Beatrice Athanas, Orlando/Winter Park, Faces of Venice, Oil; Carmen Beecher, Cape Canaveral, The Graduate, Oil; Marge Bennett, Sarasota, Summer Garden II, Acrylic; Mindy Z. Colton, Orlando/Winter Park, Unbridled Spirit: The Traveler, Sculpture/Mixed Media; Sue Lynn Cotton, Sarasota, Old Salt, Watercolor; Peg Cullen, Southwest Florida, Lorenzo, Watercolor; Jennifer Myers Kirton, Orlando/Winter Park, Yakity Yak, Ink; Mary Ellen O’Brien, Tampa, Florida Fauna, Silk Painting

• Awards of Merit: Clare E. Candelori, Southwest Florida, Grand Pink Plié, Oil; Honey Costa, Southwest Florida, Playing the Rainbow Room, Watercolor; Alice DeCaprio, Sarasota, Beach Cottage, Enhanced Photography; Carol Doenecke, Sarasota, Night at the Opera, Pastels; J. Mach Dutton, Southwest Florida, You Gotta Have Art, Watercolor; Barbara Jendrysik, Sarasota, Quiet Time, Acrylic; Gail Jones, Southwest Florida, KLIMT Revisited, Porcelain; Helen C. Regenstreif, Boca Raton, Adam and Eve, Sumi-é Painting Watercolor

Art entries were juried by Camille Silverman, M.F.A. and programs and exhibitions curator at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts in Grand Junction. Judge Diane Gugliotta, M.Ed., a Tampa Bay area artist and art educator, made the final selections Saturday morning. A PowerPoint of the Art entries (except those submitted using slides) is on the FSA Web site.

Sunday morning’s I Love a Circus Parade brunch featured branch awards presented for best newsletter, yearbook, and history book.

Sharon Cobb and Shirley Jordan, members-at-large and editors of The Palm, received the newsletter entries and awarded top prize to the Cape Canaveral branch (see sidebar).  Anne Anderson and Sandy Huff, Clearwater branch members received the yearbook and history book entries and awarded top prize in both categories to the Jacksonville branch (see sidebar). Branches in all three categories received a check.

FSA Contests followed a slightly different procedure this year. Instead of several contest chairs, which meant that several members could not enter the contests, Anne Anderson agreed to be Contest Chair and to process all entries, with the exceptions of Pen Woman of the Year, Individual Achievement, and Branch Newsletter competitions. Look for a survey later in this issue of The Palm – let us know what suggestions you have for making the next conference and contests even better! 

Sidebar: Dori Popenoe, Boca Raton, Pen Woman of the Year

By Pat Setser, Jacksonville Branch

Doris (Dori) Popenoe was nominated by the Boca Raton Branch. Dori has shown continual willingness to help her branch, the state and national organizations in any way which has been needed. She has held many offices and chairmanships. Dori volunteered with the Boca Raton Outreach Program and helped with art projects at the Girls Detention Center in West Palm Beach. Additionally, she and her husband have been extremely active with the Cancer Society for the "Festival of Lights" to raise funds and awareness.

Her award-winning portraits and landscapes are featured at art shows and she does commissioned portraits. Dori has been a Pen Woman for over 30 years and for all of this wonderful involvement, service and professional work, she is the 2009 Pen Woman of the Year.

Sidebar: Meletha Everett, Tampa, Individual Achievement Award

By Yvonne VanDerLinden, St. Augustine Branch

Under the "Big Top" in Sarasota recently, an "Art Whiz" by the name of Meletha B. Everett won the Individual Achievement Award.  Meletha is both an Art and Letters Member, and currently is president of the Tampa Branch.  Most recently, Meletha’s work has been exhibited in Australia and Wyoming, and one of her paintings was selected by the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority to be enlarged and embedded on a tower at the Brandon Parkway. The Brandon News and Tribune Brush Strokes honored Meletha for Excellence in the Arts—Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Congratulations to this talented Pen Woman.

Sidebar: Cape Canaveral Branch wins branch newsletter award

By Sharon Cobb and Shirley Jordan

Sidebar: Jacksonville Branch wins branch history and yearbook awards

By Anne Anderson and Sandy Huff

Anne Anderson and Sandy Huff, both Clearwater members, cheerfully admitted their branch hasn’t produced a history book or yearbook for the last several years, which qualified them to judge the entries received in these two categories (plus they also admitted they were looking for ideas to emulate). Entries were paraded around the room at the Sunday brunch, and Anne Anderson presented both awards to the Jacksonville branch for their professional looking history book and for their useful and creative yearbook. Both books featured the same photograph on the front, establishing a brand and making it easily identifiable. The yearbook was a purchased address book which featured small drawings of each member and a short bio as well as contact information.

2009 FSA Conference/Contests Survey

Help us make the 2011 FSA Conference and Contests even better. Please fill out this simple survey and mail it to Anne Anderson, P.O. Box 934, Safety Harbor, FL 34695-0934. You can also email comments to aander8130@gmail.com or hendiva2@cfl.rr.com – or take the survey at Survey Monkey.com.

1. Did you enter any of the 2009 FSA Conference Contests? If no, why not?

2. Did you attend any part of the 2009 FSA Conference in Sarasota? If no, why not? If yes, go on.

3. What, for you, were the outstanding moments at the conference?

4. What problems did you experience and were they resolved?

5. What, for you, were the most valuable parts of the conference?

6. Tell us your overall impression of the conference.

7. What suggestions for improvement do you have for next time?

Thank you!