The Whidbey Island Writers’ Association has announced the winners of the 2006 Spirit of Writing Contest. WIWA opens the contest each fall to Whidbey Island residents as a way to offer encouragement and recognition to writing talent in the community.

Honors in the Poetry category went to Coupeville residents: Rowena Williamson (first place, “Word Painter”); Patricia Brooks (second, “On Reading an Anthology”); Kathleen Morelock (third, “Adoration”); and Mary Moeller (fourth, “Webs”).

Winning in the Short Fiction category were: Susan Jensen of Clinton (first place, “Moonsnail”); Ann Gerike of Coupeville (second, “Reading Alice Munro”); Murray Anderson of Oak Harbor (third, “Used Books”); and John McLain of Oak Harbor (fourth, “Pay Day”)

Oak Harbor swept the Nonfiction/Essay category: John Burbidge (first place, “On Painting”); Rick Lawler (second, “Rebate Hell”); and Richard McGunigle of Oak Harbor (third, “C3: the Coming Crises Crisis”).

Nonfiction/Memoir awards go to: Mary K. Erickson of Coupeville (first place, “Bitch”); Cynthia Trenshaw of Freeland (second, “The Man in Cubicle Two”); Susan Jensen of Clinton (third, “Maybe This Time”); and Mary Moeller of Coupeville (fourth, “The Neighborhood”).

Winners in the Children’s Literature category are: Susan Jensen (first place, “My Dad Smells Funny”); Diane Adair of Coupeville (second, “April”); Jan Lautenbach of Langley (third, “A Child for Christmas”); and Richard McGunigle (fourth, “The Mouse in the Mouse”).

In the Spirit of Writing, 2006, a softcover book of the winning works will be on display in all Sno-Isle libraries after Nov. 27, and the authors will read their works at Whidbey Island Sno-Isle branch libraries in January and February.

In December WIWA will announce the grand prize winner and recipient of a full scholarship to the 2007 Whidbey Island Writers Conference.

The conference is March 3-5.