Category: Prize

Desiree Bustamantes Takes 2nd Place in the Desert Exposure Writing Contest!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Applause and plaudits for Las Cruces Writer Desiree Bustamantes for her 2nd place win of the Desert Exposure writing contest! Her story, “The Brothel,” is set in Old Mesilla and involves a young man getting “exposed” to a little more than he was ready for and reacting honorably.

Here’s the October issue with Desiree’s story and others!

As LCW’s Effrem Carrasco (a multiple contest winner himself!) points out: this is the 5th year in a row that LCW has won or placed in this esteemed writing competition.…

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And the Prize Goes to…Charmayne Samuelson!

Posted on by Mark Davis

And just as Charmayne’s new collection of poetry goes to press she wins two prizes for the related biography of Spencer MacCallum! Drumroll, please……..

Independent Press Award, 2024 Distinguished Favorites, Biography: General

Next Generation Indie Book Awards, FINALIST: AUTOBIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY

You can check out her complete canon at Wood Duck Publishers. Of course, the wood duck is the most colorful North American waterfowl, noted for iridescent plumage and perching. Almost a prize in itself.…

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Charmayne Samuelson has a Best Seller (and More!)

Posted on by Mark Davis

LCW’s very own Charmayne Samuelson is now a best seller on Amazon in the Latin American Biographies category with her new book, SPENCER MacCALLUM Memories-Mystique-Mata Ortiz. Here’s the synopsis:

Was it all destiny? The mesmerizing Spencer MacCallum story is the tale of an incurable explorer who meets his destiny! Charmayne Samuelson is an Award-Winning Author introducing this authorized and definitive biography of Spencer MacCallum, the American Princeton-educated anthropologist who discovered Juan Quezada and Mata Ortiz pottery. Buying three distressed pots in Deming, NM, he was sure they were prehistoric. When told they were not, he went on an adventure to find the potter and did not give up until he did. Praise for the book from Mata Ortiz experts hails it as “Wonderfully written!” and “An important book!” A biography in progress for many years, and after hundreds of interview hours and extensive research extracting his life story from audio and video tapes, this cross-border adventure is now available for all to enjoy. From childhood, each step of Spencer’s life seemed destined to take him to Juan Quezada and Mata Ortiz. His natural curiosity at a young age of discovering ancient relics continued on with this incredible tale of him trekking across Mexico to find one single potter, dirt-poor farmer/cowboy Juan Quezada, propelling him onto the world stage as an unlikely superstar artist. As time went on, and as Spencer’s legacy, thousands of village potters have found true artistic and monetary success in their once-dirt-poor village in Mata Ortiz,

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Donnell Ann Bell wins award!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Las Cruces Writer Donnell Ann Bell‘s novel, Until Dead, was awarded Best Thriller Novel at the tenth anniversary of 2023 Imaginarium Convention, a convention for creatives in Louisville, Kentucky. You can see the entire list of winners here.

Donnell will also be discussing writing at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library on October 16th. Here’s the scoop:

The Friends of Thomas Branigan Memorial Library present:

The Small World of Writing

According to Toner Buzz, approximately four million books are published every year. Writers, then it would seem, are everywhere, including here in Las Cruces. Perhaps you know a writer living nearby. But what are the odds that two mystery authors would live catty-corner to each other? What’s more, after making this discovery, the two would become fans of each other’s work.

At 1:30 p.m., Monday, October 16, 2023, join authors Bailey Herrington and Donnell Ann Bell for a fun and lively conversation as Bailey “Skip” Herington interviews Donnell about research, the writing process, contests, critique groups, beta readers and more. We just might squeeze in a few questions about her award-winning romantic suspense novels and FBI Cold Case Series.

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Desert Exposure Winners!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Southern NM’s Desert Exposure arts and culture magazine just selected LCW’s own Karen Ray for Grand Prize for her poem “Flying with Sheets” that recollects the idyll of youth growing up in the desert. It reminded me of hitching those spring winds with a sheet fashioned into a sail and attached to a ten speed, all part of my own crazy, experimental youth.

Multiple winner Efram Carrasco won Prose Honorable Mention for “The Desert Girl,” and many other local writers won awards as well.

Finally, LCW’s Charmayne Samuelson’s new biography Spencer MacCallum Memories – Mystique – Mata Ortiz is discussed in the same issue.

To check out all these great works, you can read the PDF or pick up a copy locally.…

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Fenton Kay wins award!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Las Cruces Writers is thrilled that our own Fenton Kay has won Honorable Mention for his poem, “Rainstorm in Juarez,” from Desert Exposure magazine! I can’t publish it here because it is slated for the November/December issue of the magazine, but I give you a consolation poem from Fenton about rain in the desert:

Sonoran Desert

Winter storm torrents –

Rain-soaked earth brings a lily

To the summer’s kiln.…

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Bob Worthington Wins National Book Award

Posted on by Mark Davis

Las Cruces Writers is thrilled to announce that our very own Bob Worthington has won another book award for his new book, Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat. Below is the official press release. Congrats to Bob!

LAS CRUCES VETERAN & AUTHOR WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR
SECOND VIETNAM BOOK

LAS CRUCES, NM — Las Cruces resident, writer, and Army veteran Dr. Bob Worthington’s book “Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” has been awarded a silver medal from the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA). The second book of Dr. Worthington’s Vietnam military trilogy, the award was announced on August 27, 2022.

MWSA President Bob Doerr said that Dr. Worthington’s book earned the silver medal in the memoir/biography category after scoring “high enough in our rigorous evaluation process to win a medal recognizing (his) achievement.” Dr. Worthington’s “Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” was recognized for the writing, editing, and its publication. “(He) should be very proud of (his) accomplishment,” Doerr said. “We certainly are.”

Dr. Worthington describes his second tour in Vietnam as some of the fiercest fighting of the war and tells of his experiences training South Vietnamese commandos to conduct raids in the swamps south of Saigon.

“Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” is the follow up to Worthington’s previous book, “Under Fire with the ARVN Infantry,” which was awarded a national award for Excellence in Literature by the Military Writers Society of America. The author’s final book in the trilogy, “The Making …

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