Despite operating remotely due to COVID-19, Wayne Community College has published its largest writers’ and artists’ magazine so far.
The 36th issue of “Renaissance” contains 82 pages of prose, poetry, and art by the college’s students and employees.
26 literary works and 40 pieces of art were selected for print.
Outstanding student contributions were recognized. The awards and those honored are:
- Cover Award – Grace Boros for “Omani Girl” (front cover art) and “Wednesday” (back cover art)
- Art Award – Dylon Bryson for charcoal pieces “Sign of the Three Sons” and “Sign of the Younger Son”
- Prose Award – John Stiles for short story “Volcano in a Volcano”
- Poetry Award and the Beatrice K. Balkcum Literary Award – Julia Walker for the poems “Animalia,” “Your Blanket,” and “In the Kitchen Upstairs”
The Balkum Award, which recognizes the best literary work by a new writer, comes with a $1,000 scholarship. It was established with the Foundation of Wayne Community College by Vicki Balkum in memory of her mother, Bea Balkum, who served the college as a faculty member and head of the Liberal Arts Department as well as a trustee for two terms.
The publication’s editors noted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a special message, saying “there is no greater need for human connection, nor a more appropriate moment to share of oneself, than now.”
“These days spent in quarantine, these times in which everyone has had to come to terms with social distancing and isolation, in a very real way make the contents of this issue so very sweet, so very touching in a manner none of us could have anticipated — because all of this work was created before the outbreak, a time we may come to see in a very different light a year from now,” said the note crafted by Jeff Williams, Ashley Merrill, and Dean Tuck, the English instructors who served as the editors for this “Renaissance” issue.
This year’s “Renaissance” and past issues from as far back as 2009 can be viewed at www.waynecc.edu/renaissance/.
