News

Dillon Walker, Natalie Duchesneau and Brittani Salvatore were honored by the Community College Humanities Association for their work submitted in Illuminations Volume 24, Southeast Community College’s literary magazine. The CCHA selects winners based on region and institutional size. SCC competes in the small-college category in the Central Region.

“Community colleges all too often get sold as a place to do your general education requirements and move on to the next thing,” said Tammy Zimmer, SCC English instructor and Illuminations editor. “What gets lost in that narrative is all of the students, faculty, staff, and administrators who are brilliant writers and artists. Illuminations is a celebration of the SCC community and demonstrates the College’s commitment to the arts and humanities.”

Walker, a Continuing Education student, won first place in the song-writing category for “Summit Girl.” Zimmer submitted his song because he took the extra effort to notate his poetry with guitar chords.

“The song leaps off the page because he included chord progressions and notated the song,” Zimmer explained. “I thought that took his submission from cool to amazing!”

Duchesneau’s piece, “Speaking is Salvation,” took home third place in the creative nonfiction category. It was student runner-up in the prose category of Illuminations. Zimmer selected the Academic Transfer’s piece because of its vivid language.

“In ‘Speaking is the Salvation’ Duchesneau discussed her experiences with depression from an early age and her difficulty to have her depression recognized by the adults in her life,” Zimmer said. “Duchesneau brought to her audience the attention and care depression deserves.”

Salvatore, an Academic Transfer student at SCC, was the Illuminations’ Grand Prize Winner for Artwork for her photo “Snow Caps.” This photo was third in the photography category for the Central Region. It was an easy choice for Zimmer to submit this piece for the category.

“What’s not to love about Salvatore’s photo of the snow caps?” explained Zimmer. “I selected ‘Snow Caps’ to submit to the CCHA awards because the photo captures the beauty of the natural world seemingly at peace. The trees in the foreground frame the mountain tops and kiss the blue sky.”

The deadline for currently enrolled SCC students, as well as faculty and staff, to submit entries for the 25th edition of Illuminations is May 31. People can submit in all three categories (poetry, prose and art). They can submit up to 10 poems, 10 pieces of art, and five prose pieces. An editorial board made up of people in the SCC community selects the pieces to be included in the magazine, and the top two submissions in each category from students win a cash prize of $50-$100.

There is a new submission process. Students can submit their entries at: Illuminations Submission Form Vol. 26 (office.com). Questions about the Illuminations can be directed to Zimmer or the magazine.

Jennifer Snyder
Communications Specialist
402-323-3393
jsnyder@southeast.edu