Pykewater Challenge

The Pykewater Challenge is a series of creative and scholarly competitions sponsored by the Pykewater library. The aim of the effort is to foster a vibrant community of respectful contest while promoting the arts more generally. All are welcomed and encouraged to participate. Please see below for a history of the Challenge and to review the latest prompt.

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The Second Pykewater Challenge Has Concluded

Thank you to all who participated. It was a true pleasure reading the total of 53 submissions. The following two poems stood out as a result of their style, originality and overall collaboration with the theme and spirit of the prompt. The first poem is an extraordinary burst of creativity that reads like a looking glass; the second poem takes a similar creative flare and channels it into a technical play at the level of linguistics itself. Both would have made Lewis Carroll proud. Wonderful work!

Poem Winner #1: T. A. Gamlen, USA

(Winner’s contact address: tagamlen1201@gmail.com)

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Poem Winner #2: Author Has Requested Anonymity

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Pykewater Valentine’s Day Challenge: Alice In Wonderland

Published by: Folio Society. Illustrated by: Charles van Sandwyk.

Website: https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland.html


The Pykewater Library is happy to kick off its Februrary/Valentine’s Day competition with some classic surrealism. The winner of the competition will receive a new copy of the illustrated Folio Society publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland.

Prompt: Please write a poem on the theme of the absurd and its relation to love.

Conditions: Please submit a single poem. Poems may be in any style, though should not exceed four regular pages in length. Creative interpretation of the prompt is encouraged. To enter, please submit in Microsoft Word format or as a PDF to pykewater@gmail.com with the subject line “Pykewater Challenge: Alice in Wonderland.” All poems should be submitted by 11:59 PM, Feb. 14th, 2021.

The winning poem will be announced by mid-March and will be featured on the Pykewater website.

Panel of Judges: William Pennington; Andrew Keyes; Byron LaFleur; Paul Lebedev

 
 
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THE FIRST PYKEWATER CHALLENGE HAS CONCLUDED

Thank you to all who participated. It was a true pleasure reading the total of 37 submissions. The following two essays stood out as a result of their style, quality of argument and depth of content. I read the two essays as locked in an inadvertent dialogue; while both authors see a continuity between the current and historical nature of mankind on earth and the potential nature of mankind amidst the stars, their conclusions are vastly different. I see the first as taking up a cautiously optimistic look at what expansion into the cosmos might look like; I see the second as fundamentally challenging this optimism, providing in its turn a critical and perhaps even cynical rendering of mankind’s space-bound trajectory. Excellent, excellent work!

Essay Winner #1: Louis Ranine, Spain

(Winner’s contact address: sphagnology@protonmail.com)



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Essay Winner #2: Paul Lebedev, USA

(Winner’s contact address: lebedevp@protonmail.com)

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HONORARY MENTIONS

These two submissions deserved recognition, and rounded out the spectrum of winning essays in some significant ways. I read the first as a straight-aimed IR memo that any would-be Martian realist/Space Force recruit could benefit from reading; the second is a creative reflection whose “coda” was simply stellar.

Honorary Mention #1: Victor Jekic, New Zealand

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Honorary Mention #2: Author has requested anonymity

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November, 2020 Writing Competition: DUne by Frank Herbert

Published by: Folio Society. Illustrated by: Sam Weber.

Website: https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/dune.html


The Pykewater Library is happy to kick off its first monthly writing competition with some classic Sci-Fi. The winner of the competition will receive a new copy of the illustrated Folio Society publication of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Prompt: Please write an essay on the idea of outer space as a political frontier.

Conditions: Essays may be exploratory or argumentative in nature. Minimum of 250 words, maximum of 5,000. To enter, please submit in Microsoft Word format or as a PDF to pykewater@gmail.com with the subject line “Pykewater Challenge: Dune.” All essays should be submitted by 11:59 PM, Nov. 30th, 2020.

The winning essay will be announced by mid-December and will be featured on the Pykewater website.