Hall-Waters Award Ceremony was a hit

University Relations photo

Dr. Palmer, Recipient Jennifer Horne, Dr. Thrasher and Dr. Curnutt pose at Hall Waters ceremony.

University relations photo

Jennifer Horne was awarded the Hall-Waters Prize last Friday at the annual award ceremony meant to recognize prolific southern authors.

The ceremony was held in the Lamar P. Higgins Ballrooms, and it featured an opening statement from Horne’s husband, Don Noble, followed by readings from a few of her books and collections of poetry, and finally, a question panel led by students.

Horne, who is the former poet laureate for the state of Alabama, said when she was first told of her award, she was beyond shocked.

“I was so not expecting to get this prize that I thought maybe [Dr. Curnutt] wanted me to introduce the person who was getting the prize,” Horne said. “Then, I reread the email, and I ran and told my husband, ‘I'm getting the Hall-Waters prize!’

“You could have knocked me over with a stick. I was so surprised and then so delighted and honored.”

She said she was most surprised because she does not specialize in only one genre.

“When you're somebody like me who writes in different genres instead of just all novels or all nonfiction or all poetry, I've sometimes felt that maybe I didn't stick to one thing enough,” Horne said. “For me, this award recognizes that I'm writing about and dealing with themes of identity, place, Southern women, consistently throughout my work.

“I just happen to do it sometimes in a poem, sometimes in a short story, sometimes in a biography.”

Horne published a biography titled, “Odyssey of a Wandering Mind” last year about Sara Mayfeild, a prolific writer who had a difficult life and was childhood friends with Zelda Fitzgerald. Horne spent 17 years writing the biography. Her most recent collection of poetry, “Letters to Little Rock,” explores her relationship with her late father and her hometown in Arkansas.

The whole day was orchestrated by the English Senior Seminar class, or ENG 4495, taught by Dr. Kirk Curnutt.

“This is our big senior seminar project,” said Karle Chamberlain, a senior English major from Alabaster, Alabama. “We started at the beginning of the semester by first understanding the book, learning about Sarah Mayfield, because she’s the biggest subject of Jennifer Horne's recent biography.

“Then, we got to know Jennifer Horne and her roles and what she does for southern literature.”

Once the students understood the author and her work, they worked with university event coordinators to flesh out the award ceremony.

The students of the class also facilitated the interview panel.

“The most tedious process was coming up with the interview questions,” Chamberlain said. “We really did have to pay attention to every single word and the implications of how the word might come off.”

Many of the panelists enjoyed Horne’s answers.

“She's really smart,” said Taylor Key, a senior majoring in English from Huntsville, Alabama.

“I liked all of her answers, and I thought she was really kind, and she was very inclusive in her language.

“I thought she was really, really smart, and the way she described the research she did for the book made me realize just how much work she put into it. I also thought her advice for writers was really good.”

Chamberlain said Horne’s answers were exactly what the panel was hoping for.

“I think that she really did give a lot of praise to Southern writing, and we wanted to know about the mental health aspect of her biography and how it's affected in the South and how it was approached for women specifically, and I really do think that she answered all of our questions thoroughly,” Chamberlain said. “She was very respectful to Sarah Mayfield and her family while also shining light on some of the tougher questions about mental health and the struggles that Mayfield went through.”

The students of the class were grateful for the opportunity to honor Horne at the Hall-Waters Award Ceremony.

“It's really rewarding getting to be hands-on and feeling like our work is kind of finally paying off,” Chamberlain said. “It's been a long time coming.

“It’s great to feel like we are contributing to Troy University and contributing to its reputation, and it's also just a great experience to have.”

The awards ceremony was followed by a book signing and a luncheon. Horne said she is working on a lot of poems and is thinking about composing another short biography in the near future.