Conferences > Conference 2006 > Conference winners

Dallas writer wins book contract for Holocaust manuscript;
three others win cash prizes at UNT Mayborn writers conference

DENTON (UNT), Texas ¾  Dallas freelance writer Craig Hanley won a provisional publishing contract with the University of North Texas Press for his book manuscript — a true-life love story of a young married couple who survived the horrors of the Holocaust.
The award was announced at the 2nd annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest, presented by the UNT Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, and held July 14-16 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine. Three other writers won cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 for their articles and essays. The book will be co-published by UNT Press and the Mayborn Institute.
Hanley’s manuscript chronicles the lives of William and Rosalie Schiff as they marry in the Krakow ghetto before being separated and sent through six Nazi camps. He began working on the book, titled “William & Rosalie,” about a year ago after being hired by the Schiffs’ son, Michael, to write about his parents’ experiences in the Holocaust.
“For me, the story really gets going today,” Hanley said. “The Schiffs – William and Rosalie are 86 and 83 — have personally educated more than 25,000 students and teachers in North Texas on the dangers of prejudice and mass hate.”
The Schiffs, now Dallas residents, continue to speak to groups visiting the Dallas Holocaust Museum. They are working with their son and other members of the community to build a new museum, the Center for Education and Tolerance, in downtown Dallas, Hanley said.
In addition to the manuscript prize, cash prizes were awarded to:

• George Newtown, an English professor at Centenary College of Louisiana and a resident of Benton, La., who won the 1st place Dallas Morning News Award and $3,000 for a piece titled “Voir Dire;”
• Michael J. Mooney, a UNT Mayborn Scholar and a Bedford resident, who earned the 2nd place Hearst Corporation Award and $2,000 for a piece titled “Sweet Dreams and Hand Sanitizer;”
• Dorie Bargmann, an Austin resident, who received the 3rd place Ricco Family Partners Award and $1,000 for a piece titled “After the Ceasefire.”

The top 20 manuscript writers and the top 50 article and essay writers participated in conference workshops, in which professional writers and editors critiqued their work. Out of those, the top 10 entries will be published in “Spurs of Inspiration: A Literary Journal Published by Hearst Newspapers and The Mayborn Institute.”
Articles and essay entries were judged by: George Getschow, writer-in-residence of the Mayborn Conference; Bill Marvel, writer for The Dallas Morning News; Dianne Solis, writer for The Dallas Morning News; Beatriz Terrazas, writer for The Dallas Morning News; S.C. Gwynee, executive editor of Texas Monthly; Skip Hollandsworth, executive editor of Texas Monthly; Michael Merschel, Sunday Life editor for The Dallas Morning News;     and Thomas Huang, features editor for The Dallas Morning News.
Manuscript entries were judged by: Kurt Eichenwald, writer for The New York Times; Gregg Jones, writer for The Dallas Morning News; Bryan Woolley, writer for The Dallas Morning News; Ron Chrisman, director of UNT Press; Jim Donovan, president of Jim Donovan Literary; James D. Hornfischer, president of Hornfischer Literary Management, L.P.; and Deanne Stillman, author of Twentynine Palms.
Literary journal selections were judged by: Kenn Altine, director of editorial professional development for Hearst Newspapers and Robert Rivard, executive vice president and editor of the San Antonio Express-News.
The Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at UNT was founded in 1999 through a gift from the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn Foundation Advise and Consult Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc. Through this gift, the Mayborn Institute is able to offer $200,000 in scholarships every year. The institute is named for longtime newspaper publisher and civic leader Frank W. Mayborn, who owned the Temple Daily Telegram, Killeen Daily Herald and KCEN-TV, Temple's NBC affiliate, before his death in 1987.
For more information, contact the Mayborn Institute at (940) 565-4564.
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