|
Anthology of authentic stories about life
KOTZEBUE, Alaska-An anthology penned by writers from rural Alaska recently won three national
book awards while its co-editors were honored for their long-running cultural journalism
project that has published hundreds of University of Alaska students in newspapers and
on websites over the past quarter-century.
The book, Purely Alaska: Authentic Voices from the Far North, with 32 stories
from 23 rural Alaska writers, won a bronze medal in the 2011 Book of the Year
competition sponsored by Foreword magazine. The award was announced at the
annual American Library Association conference in New Orleans.
In addition, Purely Alaska received an honorable mention in the Culture category of the
"These distinguished awards suggest that Purely Alaska is among the very best of
the tens of thousands of regional titles published nationally in the past year,"
said Kent Sturgis, president of Epicenter Press, Inc. "Purely Alaska continues to
be one of our best-selling titles not only for its universal critical acclaim
but also for the unique voices that are rarely found elsewhere in print about Alaska."
Purely Alaska's writers live mostly in remote corners of Alaska where they composed
their pieces as University of Alaska distance-education students.
Purely Alaska's contributors include the book's co-creators, Susan B. Andrews and John Creed,
humanities/journalism professors at Kotzebue-based Chukchi College, UA's branch campus in
Northwest Alaska, along with 21 of their distance-education students:
Steve Werle (Noatak); Iva Baker (Kotzebue); R.A. Dillon (Kotzebue); Nancy Berkey (Thorne Bay);
Marcus Miller (Haines); Karl Puckett (Kotzebue); Burton W. Haviland, Jr. (Kotzebue);
Amy Reisland-Speer (Denali National Park); Gina M. Pope (Kokhanok); Joli Morgan (Bethel);
Sonja Whitethorn (Petersburg); Lucy Nuqarrluk Daniels (Golovin); China Kantner (Kotzebue);
Steve Pilz (Ambler); Emma Snyder (Kotzebue); Robert A. Andrews (Haines); Kathryn Lenniger (Nenana);
Wilma C. Payne (McGrath); Terry Wilson (Nome); Al Bowling (Deering); and Katie Cruthers (Kotzebue).
Purely Alaska is a follow up to Andrews' and Creed's first book, Authentic Alaska: Voices
of Its Native Writers, a bestseller for the University of Nebraska Press. Both anthologies
have their roots in the professors' cultural journalism project, Chukchi News & Information
Service (CNIS), which they co-founded in Kotzebue in 1988. This project captured
a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award among its honors while publishing hundreds
of UA students in newspapers, magazines and on websites throughout Alaska.
Meanwhile, professors Andrews and Creed, former journalists, earlier this year were
honored by the Alaska Professional Communicators, a statewide organization promoting
excellence in journalism, communications, and education, for their work as faculty
advisors to CNIS. In 2010, this project published high school juniors and seniors from
Kotzebue and surrounding villages in newspapers such as the Arctic Sounder and the
Nome Nugget and on websites such as the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch .
"Giving voice to these high school students as writers is enviable in and of itself,"
wrote a contest judge. "These advisers understand that writing is a craft, and storytelling is magic."
These Chukchi Honors Program students were enrolled in college prep writing classes while
earning high school and college credit simultaneously.
"This program has helped our college-bound high school students become better prepared for
college while improving their self-confidence," said Norm Eck, superintendent of
the Northwest Arctic Borough School District.
Purely Alaska is used as a teaching tool in K-12 schools as well as on the college level,
in English as a Second Language instruction, and as a popular choice in Alaska's visitor industry.
For more information on Purely Alaska, contact Andrews and Creed at sbandrews@alaska.edu
or jcreed@alaska.edu. Find us on Facebook.
Sample Writings of 2010 High School Cultural Journalism Project, Chukchi News & Information Service:
http://tundratelegraph.com/component/content/article/86-life/176-a-day-at-camp-with-aana
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/151851 |
Purely Alaska, published by Epicenter Press, also captured a second-place award
in the nonfiction anthology category of the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards
sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association. The award was made
at the annual Book Expo America show in New York City.
annual Eric Hoffer Awards for Short Prose & Independent Books. Hoffer, an American
writer/philosopher, has been described as one of "the most important thinkers
of the twentieth century."