Congratulations to the 2015 Weta Nichols Writing Contest WINNERS!
Historical Category
- 1st Place: Pam Bazemore, "A Choice Between"
Pam Bazemore. (Birchwood, 20 minutes NE of Chattanooga, TN) She’s attempted a number of things to find her primary role in life: secretary, cashier, piece worker, fork-lift driver and even tank driver in the TN Army Nat’l Guard. Writing short fiction and personal journals is something she’s done off and on since high school. ‘A Choice Between’ is her first novel. She has a completed second, a raw third, and eight chapters (so far) of a fourth. When not writing, she makes the claim of ‘glorified gopher’ for her husband’s business, devoted mom to their brilliant 23 year old son, and chief feeder and caretaker to six dogs she didn’t really intend to have but couldn’t give them up even if she wanted to.
- 2nd Place: Veda Boyd Jones, "Will Jolie's Excellent Vietnam Adventure"
Veda Boyd Jones (Joplin, MO) has written romance novels and children’s fiction and nonfiction books and is trying her hand at a mainstream historical novel. She reread letters she received from her husband during his army years (previous to their marriage), and using them as a catalyst, she decided to fictionalize the turmoil and angst of the Vietnam era on a young man and the young woman he loved. New ebooks: The Governor’s Daughter, That Sunday Afternoon
- 3rd Place: Lindsey Edwards, "Awaiting the Viscount's Kiss
Contemporary Category
- 1st Place: Jessie Gussman, "When Silence Speaks"
- 2nd Place: Lindy Dierks, "Who Says You Can't Go Home"
Lindy Dierks, an avid reader her entire life, began writing a few years ago. She squeezes in writing contemporary romances in the early morning hours, between a full time job, three kids, and the mountains of laundry.
- 3rd Place: Lori Younker, "Without Borders"
Lori Younker has enjoyed the world of words with her international friends for over 30 years. Whether she is learning a new language or teaching English, she appreciates the power of words to capture issues that inspire others. She has had several short stories published in anthologies some of which placed first and second in contests. Lori and her husband raised three kids in warm and woodsy Missouri. Currently, she is president of the COMO Writers’ Guild and donates her energies to recent immigrants and to her writing.
Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
- 1st Place: Rosalie Stanton, "Hellion"
Rosalie Stanton is a multi-published erotic romance author, with emphasis in paranormal and contemporary. A lifelong enthusiast of larger than life characters, Rosalie enjoys building worlds filled with strong heroes and heroines of all backgrounds.
- 2nd Place: Allison Merritt, "Lawless"
A love of reading inspired Allison Merritt to pursue her dream of becoming an author who writes historical, paranormal, contemporary, and fantasy romances, often combining the sub-genres. She lives in a small town in the Ozark Mountains with her husband and dogs. It's not unusual to find her lurking in graveyards, wandering historical sites, or listening to ghost stories.
- 3rd Place: Anne Belen, "Past Mistakes"
Young Adult/Middle Grade
- 1st Place: Mary Holm, "The Fatal Crown"
Mary Holm started writing her first novel after her twins were born as a way to stay sane between feedings and diaper changes. Since then, she’s written two novels and is working on a third. After graduating from Southern Illinois University with a BA in Television, she worked in production, did documentary research, and currently works as a script researcher for TV programs and movies.
She lives in Burbank, CA with her wonderful husband of 32 years. Her boy and girl twins are now grown and have recently made her a grandmother to two beautiful grandsons, three months apart. On the rare occasions when she has spare time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, watching TV and tweeting.
- 2nd Place: Charles Robertson, "Ghost Tree"
- 3rd Place: S.D. Keeling, "Songs Never Sung, Words Never Spoken"
S. D. Keeling is the pen name of Sharon Keeling Davis, an award-winning photographer, aspiring author and mother of two rambunctious little boys. She is often drawn to historical and time travel fiction--not surprising since she spent five years as a grad student in ancient and medieval history.
entral Arkansas author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom/pastor’s wife/writer. She recently signed a three-book contract for her contemporary inspirational romance series set in Romance and Rose Bud, Arkansas.
Since launching her career in 2007, award-winning author Shannon K. Butcher has penned more than eighteen titles, including the paranormal romance series, the Sentinel Wars; the action-romance series, the Edge; and a handful of romantic suspense novels and works of short fiction. Being a former engineer and current nerd, she frequently uses charts, graphs and tables to aid her in the mechanics of story design and to keep track of all those pesky characters and magical powers. An avid beader and glass artist, she spends her free time playing with colored glass and beads. You can find her online at 
contemporary novels, three historical romance novels, and more than a dozen non-fiction books. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been published. Six of her books have been finalists for Best Traditional Romance novel in the RITA contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America. She has received two Reviewer's Choice awards from Romantic Times.
editor at Avalon Books, started her career in publishing at Starlog magazine as a high school intern, fell in love with editing and the creative process, and hasn’t wanted to do anything else since. During the last twenty years she has worked on a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction topics and genres at several publishing houses including, Marvel Comics, HarperCollins, St. Martin’s Press, Oxford University Press, and Random House Children’s Books.
