The creative writing awards ceremony was a treat for anyone who was able to attend last Saturday. The readings of the winning contestants were true testament to the strong and diverse body of writers here at Oberlin.

Senior Emily Guendelsberger, an honorable mention winner for the Friends and Alumni Fiction Prize, started off the reading. I found her piece to be one of the most enjoyable of the evening. She read her story, “A City Called Heaven,” which she wrote after being inspired by a song of the same name.

“I liked the idea of heaven being a place where a lot of people exist,” Guendelsberger said.

While the story was already a strong piece of writing, the performance was also entertaining because Guendelsberger sang parts of the song that she used to splice up the narrative. Written in a list style that matched the song motif, every section began with a description of what “heaven is.”

Like a real city, the “City Called Heaven” was ripe with numerous personalities and activities, which makes sense, as surely heaven is not a place where people would be capable of boredom.

Another interesting feature of this “City Called Heaven” was how otherwise stressful and unhappy situations in the mortal realm are (miraculously) not an issue.

For example, heaven is also a place where a woman can play croquet with all her ex-husbands and their mistresses. Naked. If there was a more suitable description of paradise than this, I would be hard-pressed to come by it.

One of my other favorites of the evening was the work of junior Beth Rogers, one of the honorable mention winners for the Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Prize. Her poem “Some Thoughts on Green” pulled together disparate topics only related by the color green. It was a funny, insightful poem on the great significance a seemingly random shade on the color wheel can have.

Rogers moved from complimenting the way someone looked in their green shirt to the color of someone’s eyes as she implored them to “eat some more guacamole” to modifying Kermit the Frog’s famous saying, reading “It’s not easy being fresh, new and full of life.”

Senior Caitlin Cardina, the winner of the Emma Howell Poetry Prize and The Academy of America Poets Stuart Friebert Prize, also read some of her poetry.

One of her poems was a reflection on “Ikebana,” the Japanese art of flower arranging. She mentioned before reading that the first thing you learn is “what not to put in.” She took this theme and named different plants to put into an arrangement that reflected a person’s inner characteristics.

Another one of her poems, “The Astronomer,” ended with a particularly sage and poignant reflection: “He wondered if he could anticipate and be satisfied in the same life.”

Senior Jake Lemkowitz, winner of the Diane Vreuls Fiction Prize ended the evening by reading chapter four, “The Porch,” of his novel, The House, which described oddly protective birds moving in.

“No one had to worry after the birds moved in,” Lemkowitz read, following with the example of Milton, who delivers mail. Milton, we learn, has not yet earned the title of mailman and perhaps never will, as the birds swoop down and attack Milton before he has a chance to save himself.

Lemkowitz’s story was entertaining and used a unique voice that adopted a familiar tone, but at the same time had a sense of detachment and almost hostility toward the audience.

The work of all 11 winning students made for a pleasantly literary Saturday night. Congratulations to all.