Rutledge Writing Awards

In the course of the last 15 years, I’ve taught an array of creative writing students. I’ve encountered a South Side woman aspiring to be a playwright…who had never heard of Lorraine Hansberry. A working class Polish kid dabbling with an oral history project…who’d never heard of Studs Terkel. A young man trying his hand at a memoir…who had never heard of Richard Wright. An entire class of kids who’d never heard Gwendolyn Brooks, unless you count “maybe,” “I think so,” or “isn’t she the one with the school?” as yeses.

The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s core mission is to celebrate, honor and support our city's impressive writing heritage, and today’s youth are a link in that great chain. Young writers need encouragement to write and read. If you believe, as I do, that a sophisticated understanding of history can positively impact American culture, then you must, as I do, fret about younger generations' haphazard access to it.

For that reason, I was excited and enthusiastic when the American Writers Museum asked the CLHOF to cosponsor its Rutledge Writing Awards competition. AWM planning team member Jim Rutledge established the award with a gift of $2,500, which enables us to award ten cash prizes to Chicago High School students. This is roughly the same amount of money CLHOF gave away last year in a similar venture, Budding Literary Masters.

But this one will be even stronger, for a few reasons.

 Bayo Ojikutu, one of the judges of  the Budding Literary Masters
 competition, is shown here with prize winner Muna Abdullahi at
 Hemingway's birth home, where the 2012 recognition ceremony
 took place. Bayo will judge this year's Rutledge Writing Awards,

 along with Alice Letvin.

First, the competition is tied to the From Our Neighborhood: Four Chicago Writers Who Changed America, a "pop-up" exhibit highlighting the lives and careers of Hansberry, Terkel, Wright and Brooks, that is now touring a number of Chicago communities. Young writers entering the Rutledge competition must first experience the exhibit (in person or online). In so doing, they can establish that connection between the past and the future that I think is so important.

Second, the reach of the Rutledge Awards will be much greater—combining the efforts of AWM and CLHOF will allow us to find more teachers and administrators interested in working with students to develop solid submissions. Ultimately, the success of this competition relies on widespread participation.

This process is potentially powerful.

Every young writer has plenty of material—that is never truly the challenge. Their challenge is to transform thoughts and experiences into literature that has greater clarity than the hodgepodge our lives serve up organically. Adolescents confront a dizzying array of emotions, problems and decisions as they take tentative steps toward independence. Reading, of course, can provide access to solutions, paths, action.

So can writing.

The Rutledge Writing Awards serve up a challenge that requires young people to explore a particular aspect of their lives—their neighborhood. The four authors featured in the FON exhibit all had strong ties to their communities—many of which continue, in some shape or another, to thrive beyond the confines of the host venues. Young writers should easily identify with the theme of neighborhood—they’re at an age when they can see that their actions impact those around them and vice versa. Their quality of life depends on the delicate balance between family, neighbors, politicians, civil servants, even criminals, and to articulate that delicate balance through their own literature necessarily requires reflection. And work. It's also true that their landscape is a part of who they are, and how they see and navigate the landscape of their youth will remain a part of them forever. Writing about that landscape will force them to tilt their heads for sight lines always there but seldom processed. 

Not nearly all of the entrants will be lifelong creative writers, but they will all be lifelong citizens. Learning about these Chicago writers and submitting an essay, poem or story for review and critique is a worthy pursuit because the effort itself ensures that students will gain something valuable.

Teachers, administrators, parents: go to the American Writers Museum website for full details about the Rutledge writing competition. Chicago public and parochial high school students, as well as rising freshmen (eight graders), are eligible. Give your student or students the parameters of the contest, and then arrange for them to view the exhibit. We’re already accepting submissions.

We want to make sure students are motivated, supported and appreciated.

While motivation starts with the prize money and publication potential, success really depends on enthusiastic adults and supporting organizations. Pitch the competition as a pursuit that will amuse, enlighten and enrich. Let them know that the process of completing this assignment has rewards beyond the cash prizes.

For support, we provide writing tips that will assist students--and the teachers that guide them--in the process of developing ideas, steadily improving upon initial efforts, and ultimately transforming them into literature. We’ve also developed a Pinterest page featuring a collection of astute observations about the writing process from notable authors. 

Alice Letvin, distinguished judge

Appreciation will come in the form of personalized critiques, as well as certificates, to all entrants. In addition, we will host a ceremony in the fall to celebrate the winners in both poetry and prose. The participants in last year’s Budding Literary Masters contest found particular satisfaction in reading thoughtful commentary about their own work and presenting their stories publicly for the first time.

Young writers (even us old ones) need motivation, support and appreciation in order to create something whole and possibly substantial.  Jim Rutledge, along with the American Writers Museum, have put together such an occasion, and the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is helping a new generation maximize this opportunity.

Interested partner organizations can email me or the AWM’s Carolyn Saper for further assistance. 

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Donald G. Evans is the founder and executive director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. He is the author of the novel Good Money After Bad and short story collectionAn Off-White Christmas, as well as the editor of the anthology Cubbie Blues: 100 Years of Waiting Till Next Year. He is the Chicago editor of the Great Lakes Cultural Review. He serves on the American Writers Museum's Chicago Literary Council and the committee that selects the Harold Washington Literary Award.

donaldgevans@hotmail.com