The Filitsa Sofianou-Mullen Creative Writing Competition Looks for Talented Young Writers
For a second year now, the Filitsa Sofianou-Mullen Creative Writing Competition is open to submissions. The Department of Literature and Theater at AUBG established the contest in memory of beloved professor and talented writer Filitsa Sofianou-Mullen.
“We wanted to find some way to commemorate our late colleague Filitsa Mullen,” said Department Chair Sean Homer. “This seemed to us as the best way of doing it because she was a great poet.”
In addition to being a devoted professor, Professor Mullen was also a kind and giving person who touched the hearts of everyone who knew her. She joined AUBG in 2004 and soon became an integral part of the community and a mainstay of the Literature and Theater Department at the university. She has served as chair of the Department of Arts, Languages, and Literature, chair of the Faculty Assembly, co-chair of the NEASC Self-Study Committee and coordinator of the Writing Program.
The first annual competition in memory of Professor Mullen generated considerable interest among the AUBG community, with over 40 entries submitted in the prose and poetry categories.
“The response exceeded our expectations,” Professor Homer said. “We had a very good response both internally and from alums who remember Filitsa and (...) wanted to acknowledge her in some way.”
Three winners were selected in each category, with the funds for the awards coming from donations within the Literature and Theater Department that were matched by then-president Steven Sullivan.
“We had some excellent entries,” Professor Homer said. “It reminded us that we had some great writers here over the years. We are very, very pleased with the volume of entries that came in from alums who wanted to remember our colleague but who also still want to write.”
AUBG students and alumni who wish to participate in the competition should submit their entries – a piece of prose fiction (up to 2,000 words) or a poem (up to 200 lines) – as an attachment to Professor Homer at shomer@aubg.edu.
The winners of the first annual competition were:
Fiction:
1st—Marko Lubarda, “Load Bearing”
2nd—Ketevan Mdzinarishvili, “Spider”
3rd—Vasil Tuchkov, “Opiparo’s Day”
Poetry:
1st—Andreea Ceplinschi, “Immigrant Gold”
2nd—Asset Janabekov, “Fata Morgana”
3rd—Yagama / Mariana Perianova, “I Am Hungry”