This year the Illinois Woman’s Press Association celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest established to honor the memory of Mate E. Palmer. Ms. Palmer became a member of IWPA in 1895 and served as its ninth President during the term of June 1907 - 1909. Among the many accomplishments achieved during her presidency was the granting of a Certification of Organization to IWPA by the State of Illinois.
According to a copy of the organization’s 1941 annual report, Ms. Palmer’s estate gave $460 to IWPA. Legend tells us Sadie Quayle, who had cared for Palmer during her final illness gave the money to IWPA with the purpose of establishing a writing award to honor Palmer who had died in 1939. (Ironically, the organization had begun a Merit Award Contest that same year.) |
Six classifications were established for the competition:
1. Best Fiction a.) Adult book or short stories; b.) Juvenile book or short stories
2. Best News Story or Newspaper Feature Story
3. Best General Magazine Article
4. Best Professional or Business Magazine Article
5. Best Poem.
6. Best Drama including Radio Scripts
There were three winners in that first contest. Kathryn E. Ritchie and Marie Heuer tied for Featured Article. Elsie Melchert Fowler won for Poetry. Today, there are 78 categories with 32 winners taking home 137 awards!
In the search for material submitted by members for the first contest, sadly, no copies of the awardwinning entries were found in the IWPA archives.
|
A search of the internet led to the discovery of a March 1949 copy of Jack and Jill with the poem “If You Never Talked With Fairies” by Elsie Melchart Fowler on eBay. A resident of Oak Park, Illinois, Fowler’s poetry
appeared in many national children’s magazines throughout her career. Besides winning the Mate E. Palmer award in Poetry, Fowler’s award’s also included a prize given by the Chicago branch of the National League of American Pen Women for her story “The Odd One.”
As the competition’s categories expanded and members began to enter and win in more than one, the Silver Feather Award was established thirty-nine years ago in recognition of the IWPA member |
