By Kyle Peveto, Staff Writer

Three ACU students placed in a statewide creative writing contest held by The Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers.

Joe Drisdale won first place with a collection of poems in the graduate division of poetry. Brooks Larr, a graduate of 2002, received an honorable mention in undergraduate poetry. Jonathan Grubbs, senior electronic media major, won third place in undergraduate fiction with his short story “Chad’s Fire.”

Every year creative writing teachers enter the best work done by students in the TACWT contest. The categories for competition include graduate and undergraduate levels of fiction, poetry and non-fiction prose.

The winning pieces were written during the creative writing classes taught by Al Haley, assistant professor of English and writer in residence, during 2001-02. Creative writing workshops are taught in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama.

“It was a great class,” Grubbs said, “I felt free to express myself.”

Grubbs’ story “Chad’s Fire” developed from a one-page character sketch written early in the class. The sketch featured a fireman who had a fear of water. Grubbs was already interested in writing screenplays before taking the workshop, and he wants to be a filmmaker.