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English and Communications Department presents Walter Spara Awards and Hurricane Review
Creative writing students Riley Glover and Julianna Gainey take first-place honors in the Walter Spara Awards.
Creative writing by Pensacola State College students, along with writing by established authors and poets from around the country, was honored and read aloud at the Celebration of Literary Arts on Thursday, Jan. 22, in the college’s Lamar Lecture Hall on the Pensacola campus. For the first time, the PSC English and Communications Department’s longstanding Walter Spara Writing Contest Awards and the annual reception for the release of its Hurricane Review literary journal were combined.
Walter Spara Awards
The student writing competition is named for the late English professor and poet Walter Spara, who taught creative writing for 34 years (from 1966 to 2000) at Pensacola Junior College and co-founded the journal, originally named Half Tones to Jubilee, in 1986 with Allan Peterson, an instructor and later head of the Visual Arts Department.
Student writer Julianna “Jules” Gainey was presented with two first-place awards, winning top honors for her essay “On Grief” in the Nonfiction Essay category and for “a wednesday in october” in the Poetry category. Riley Glover’s story “Kill Nina” won first place for Short Fiction.
Second-place honors were presented to Sophia Gonzalez for the nonfiction essay “The Detriment of Reels,” Arren Joseph-White for the short fiction story “Soldier On, Girl,” and Lyane Aaya-Oquendo for the poem “But I’m *Not* a Virgin.”
Third-place honors were presented to Isaac Brennan for the nonfiction essay “The Shape of Me,” Brandi Volpi for the short fiction story “Gas Station Money,” and Kayley Grimes for the poem “The After.”
“I am so proud of not only the winners of the Spara contest this year, but also everyone who entered. We received a variety of high-quality pieces, and the judges’ decision was tough,” said Sara Smith, associate professor of English. “It’s inspiring to know that we have so many engaged and talented students.”
Smith added that more outstanding student work will be published, along with the Walter Spara Award-winning entries, in the upcoming issue of the English and Communications Department’s Kilgore Review, the annual literary magazine written and published by PSC students.
This year’s team of student editors is currently selecting work for the new issue’s launch in April.
2026 Hurricane Review
Back in the late ’80s, Spara and Peterson worked together with creative writing students to publish top-notch writers from around the world and establish a stellar reputation for the journal Halftones to Jubilee. In the years following Spara’s retirement, the journal was published under the editorial guidance of Bill Fisher, then Marian Wernicke (who renamed it Hurricane Review), Mike Will, Todd Neuman and Jamey Jones, who took over the reins in 2017.
Among contributors to the 2026 Hurricane Review in attendance at last week’s reception were New Orleans poet Joel Dailey; Mike Racine, who traveled from Asheville, N.C., and Tony Bledsoe, Frederick Long, Jacquelyn Roos, Scott Satterwhite and Sara Smith of Pensacola. For those writers unable to attend, student editors recited their works from the podium.
“It’s an honor to be involved with this event, a celebration of poetry and stories and the people who keep the literary world relevant,” said English and Communications Department Head Mike Will. “It’s also a chance to acknowledge the hard work and dedication our students and faculty put into consistently creating such high-quality products.”
Also in attendance was Pensacola artist and author Rachael Pongetti, whose art using expired Polaroid film and gel medium transfers is featured throughout this year’s Hurricane Review, and her collage art graces the cover.
“I appreciate having my work next to such beautiful language,” said Pongetti.
“This was the first time we combined the Walter Spara Awards with the Hurricane Review reception, which elevated the experience for students involved in both events. It brought them all together in a very positive way that made it a true celebration of writing,” said Jones, a former poet laureate of Northwest Florida and associate professor of English at PSC. “There was a positive energy in the room that felt almost tangible to me. I think everyone came away from it uplifted and inspired.”
The Hurricane Review accepts submissions year-round, and all PSC students are welcome to enter their writing for consideration. The current editing team will meet during the next two weeks to start reviewing submissions for the 2027 publication.