International Competition for Writers with Disabilities (ICWD)

POSTPONED: Please check back in late summer for updated information and a new deadline.

The required form may also be submitted as a Google Doc.

2017 Winners

1st Place: $500
The Fractured and the Whole Click here to view
Author: Brandon Moore
From: Phoenix

2nd Place: $300
Being Excluded Click here to view
Author: George Cook
From: Phoenix

3nd Place: $150
Infirmary Click here to view
Author: Rebecca Loggia
From: Phoenix

Honorable Mentions:
Listen Youngster Click here to view
Author: Gilles El Haddad
From: Grenoble

I Am Alive Click here to view
Author: Daniela Gray
From: Hermosillo

Much More Than 1.5 Click here to view
Author: Valerie Pace
From: Catania

Our Own Moment Click here to view
Author: Lisa Acheson
From: Ennis

Janine Bobin reading for Gilles El Haddad

Mary Hill Connor reading for Lisa Acheson

2016

International Competition for Writers with Disabilities Award Reception

2016 ICWD Winners Announced Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Winners

First Place: Voices of my Own, writer by Nancy Cormanberk from Phoenix, AZ.

Voices of my Own

written by Nancy Cormanberk from Phoenix, AZ

I have a visual challenge.
“Sever”, my ophthalmologist said.
What led me her I cannot say,
Growing up I was never aware of ‘severe’.

“You must stay in 2nd grade”, the elementary school said.
“You refused to do 2nd grade math and falash cards”, they said.
“Let’s make a deal”, my fahter and mother said to the principal.
“Let’s make a deal”, they all stated.
My voice was born that day.
“You have a choice”, my family then said to me.
“You can sta in 2nd grade or you can go to 3rd and stay after every day to work on 2nd grade stuff until you get it”.
I had a choice.

The day I signed up for high school
The counselor said yo me, “You will never go to college.
You”ll never go to Community college. You will never pass algebra”.
“You have a choice”, my mother and father said to me.
“Let’s make a deal,” my family said.
“You can try it and you an always move down if you need to”.
My voice was born that day.

“You cannot color in the lines you know”, my inner critic said to me.
“You can’t go there,” when Art Awakenings called to me.
My voice was born that day.
“You can’t go there”, my other inner self said to me.
My family was now watching from above.
So there was no one to say, “Let’s make a deal”.
“Severe”, my ophthalmologist said.
My voice grew stronger that day.
I am here living that call.

Second Place: Although I Cannot Walk Beside You, written by Ying Yang from Chengdu, China.

Although I Cannot Walk Beside You

written by Ying Yang from Chengdu, China

In Spring I look up at the lush jungle
Shaking the wheelchair slowly walk in flowing river
Have a spring breeze brushed my sleeping face
Although I can’t walk beside with you
My wings of my heart are side by side with you
We are flying in the beautiful carpet of flowers in spring

In summer I bath in the light of the lingering
Shake the wheelchair longing for sunrise in the morning
You are rapid running at the end of the coastline
Although I can’t walk beside with you
My heart goes on with your pulse synchronization
Blood surges in every renewal of beautiful morning

In autumn fruits are countless rich in the valley
I shake the wheelchair lingering on this golden full grain juggle
Under the blue sky you spread the wings of wind
Although I can’t walk beside you
flahsy moment my heart is also surging wave
To the baptism of one life with sea swallow

In winter I look up at the snow-capped mountains
Shake the wheelchair roaming in white bright pieces
You stood in the cold wind of brutal lake, such as green conifers
Although I can’t walk beside with you
In the tottering I can still stand on your side
To be your forever memories in the lonely desert and smoking earth

Although I can’t walk beside with you
The source of life strongly surges in my weak body
The sea of my heart sets on like a sail
My feet are mountains stretches of the prennial forward steps
Forward the place where your sun is erupting out
I am marching on
I am walking beside you

Third Place: Broken Crayon with No Color, written by Joy Valerius from Tucson, AZ.

Broken Crayon With No Color

written by Joy Valerius from Tucson, Arizona

I am a broken crayon
with no color,

kicked out of the box
for being different.

I purposely color out
side the lines,

preferring my own
designs.

I color the sky clear,
not a repititious blue,

nor an ocean’s depth,
a deep green, that

we have all seen.

The sun is never orange
in my world.

but translucnet so
its rays don’t ever burn.

Colorless, things are
left to the imagination,

a celebration!

I am a broken crayon
with no color.