C O N T E S T S

2022 Advent: Mary, Mother of Holy Hope Writing Contest

Announcing the Winners of the
2022 Advent: Mary, Mother of Holy Hope Writing Contest

Congratulations to the winners of CLA’s 2022 Advent Writing Contest Winners! We thank all who entered the contest in response to Mary, Mother of Holy Hope.

Please read the beautiful winning entries below!

First Prize: Jeffrey Essmann
Second Prize: Daniel Jabe
Third Prize: Maura Harrison

Finalists: Johanna Caton, Drew Chancey , Nicole Coonradt, M. Frost Delaney, Carla Galdo, Justin Lacour, Tamara Nicholl-Smith, Douglas Taylor-Weiss.

Meet our Judge
Father Charles Hough, Rector of Our Lady of Walsingham, Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Houston, Texas

A native of the Fort Worth area, Father Hough received his Masters of Divinity from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in the Spring of 2007 and was ordained in the Episcopal Church in September of 2007.  He served as Curate to Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Arlington, Texas and later as Rector of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Texas. He resigned from that position in June of 2011 to be received into the Catholic Church by the Most Reverend Kevin Vann, Bishop of Fort Worth.  

In the interim he worked with adult religious education and RCIA at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Keller, Texas. He successfully completed the formation process and his rescript, or permission from the Vatican, to be ordained a Catholic priest for the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in March 2012. He was ordained on June 30, 2012, the Feast of the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church, by Bishop Vann.   Father Hough was installed as Rector of Our Lady of Walsingham by Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson on July 1, 2012.  He then was named as Pastor of the Cathedral and Rector of the Shrine by the Most Rev. Steven Lopes, Bishop of the Ordinariate, in 2016.

Heaven Scent
Jeffrey Essmann

If violets should bloom in winter’s cold,
Their tender scent would to the gelid air
A sweetness lend, revive the human soul,
And bid the earth to wondrous hope repair—
A hope it otherwise might never dare.

Yet such a bloom took root when Gabriel
His strange announcement rendered to a girl
Of Nazareth that God would deeply dwell
In her and there his very self impearl
So that the world’s salvation might unfurl.

Her humble yes thereto transformed her quite
From girl to woman, even unto queen
Whose power royal was the grace we might
Like her surrender to a light unseen,
A light whose hope all darkness contravenes.

Thus in these purpled weeks of evening deep
We light our candles to dispel the gloom
And in our hearts a lonely vigil keep
While sensing near eternity’s perfume
That week by week imbued the Virgin’s womb.

Michelangelo’s Pietà
Dan Jabe

The marble has an other-worldly glow.
It’s over-polished, maybe, and I know
That Jesus looks too small on Mary’s lap.
They’re out of scale. Graffitied on the strap
Across her dress the artist carved his name
With hubris he regretted. Just the same
There’s something in the way she holds him there,
Her tenderness, her grief, a mother’s care.
She’s graceful though the body of her son
Lies limp. His days of suffering are done.
His face portrays the quietude of death
And yet his chest will rise again with breath.
Beneath this human frailty, stone and art,
We find the hopeful stillness of his heart.

And Fixes Heaven to our Fearful Hearts
Maura Harrison

It is about to happen: Holy hope—
Clad in the garments of deep blue, the veil
Of gold and brilliant stars, assenting cope
And humble diadem, hosana hail
And alleluia reign—this hope comes round
And fixes heaven to our fearful hearts.
Our angels fill the sky. Our awe is bound
In swaddling clothes. The manger’s choral parts—
The bovine, ovine, cameline—convince
The night to kneel before Nativity.
All is so still: small bleats and sighs evince
The quiet binding birth, where we can see               
Mary our mother, hold our Hope: “Please pray—
My son will let you touch his heart today.”

Contest Information

Catholic Literary Arts encourages your written submission focused on Mary, Mother of Hope. Prizes will be awarded to the top three submissions. A virtual event to celebrate the winners and finalists will be held on Wednesday, December 14th.

Focus your unique writing skills on the richness and expectations of Advent through meditation on the Blessed Virgin Mary. We are eager to read your unpublished poems and prose on the holy presence of the Blessed Mother during Advent, as we look to Mary as the Mother of Holy Hope, the Mother Who gave birth to Jesus as the Light of all mankind.

Awards:

We will feature the winners’ work on our website and award a cash prize of $75 to the first place winner, $50 to the second place winner, and $35 to the third place winner. All winners receive one year of free membership to Catholic Literary Arts, enabling them to receive discounts on virtual classes and free quarterly critique of writing from a professional writer. Review Membership benefits here.

 Guidelines:

The contest opens on November 1, 2022.

The contest will close on November 30, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

  • $5.00 entry fee. One entry per author. 

  • Poetry and prose up to 250 words/piece. Unpublished writing only.

  • Minimum age of author, 16 YOA on the date of submission. International entries are accepted.

  • Submissions begin November 1, 2022, and end at 11:59 p.m. CST on November 30, 2022.

  • Winners will be announced on this website on Dec. 7, 2022 by 5:00 p.m. CST.

  • Our winner’s celebration will be held on Dec. 14, 2022 at 7:00pm CST via Zoom with Father Hough. Click here for the winner’s celebration.   

  • Only submissions through Submittable are accepted. Click below for the entry form.

  • To submit your writing, use this link to Submittable.

Your submission confirms that you have read and fulfilled all the above requirements and conditions. Each winner will complete IRS Form W-9 before payment of an award.

All Catholic Literary Arts board members and charter members are ineligible to enter this contest.

For questions, please email us at cathla.org@gmail.com

You are invited to attend the virtual Celebration of Winners and Finalists, December 14, 2022, 7:00 p.m. CST.

Attendance is free, although your kind donation will help build the writers of tomorrow.  See this link to the Teen Mentorship Writing Program.

Please register here for the Celebration of Winners on December 14, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. CST.

Join the worldwide CLA community in fostering Writers of Faith.