The winners and namesake of the National League of American Pen Women, Panama Canal Branch's 2003 Anona Kirkland Writing Contest, left to right: Mary Richards (short story), retired journalist Anona Kirkland, So Young Kang (poetry). Photo by Hector Manfredo

An International School of Panama teacher and one of her students took top honors at this year's Anona Kirkland Writing Contest. This was the second time that the local chapter of the National League of American Pen Women (NALPW) has held the English-language writing competition, this year drawing entries in the short story and poetry categories. The contest takes its name from Anona Kirkland, the 98-year-old former social page editor of the old Star & Herald, an English daily that La Estrella de Panama published for many decades.

ISP English teacher Mary Richards won the short story competition with "The Taxi Man," a tale of a schoolteacher and the man who takes her to and from work every day. So Young Kang, a 15-year-old student of Richards's who entered the contest as part of her writing class, won the poetry contest with "The Perfect Mold," a poem about educational systems' inclinations to turn out fungible specialists whose training is often obsolete before it's finished.

Mary Richards, the daughter of an Episcopalian priest who spent most of her formative years in Colon and Bocas del Toro, returned to Panama last year from Canada to live and teach. So Young Kang, whose parents speak Korean at home, has turned into one of those individuals of the sort whom business and political leaders say they want to see more, someone who excels in English as a second language.

The Panama Canal Branch of the NALPW, the organization's only chapter outside the United States, brings together most of the best female artists and writers in Panama's English-speaking community. At the awards ceremony, held on April 30 at the Biblioteca Nacional Ernesto J. Castillero R., journalist Anona Kirkland was on hand and telling of plans for her 100th birthday party in August of 2004; sculptor, art teacher and occasional contributor to The Panama News Emily Zhukov served as master of ceremonies; photographer and journalist Brenda Lane, the chapter's president, gave welcoming remarks; photographer, children's author and regular contributor to The Panama News Patricia Alvarado presented the awards; and painter, photographer, poet and head of the Teatro En Circulo Joan Manfredo was in charge of the refreshments.

The winners, as well as one of the runners-up in the short story contest, ISP student Edgardo Jaen, read from their works. Anona Kirkland congratulated the contest winners and thanked the NALPW chapter, of which she has been a member since its inception in 1950, for naming the competition after her. "You never know what's going to happen when you're almost 100 years old," she said. One thing that the group is planning to make happen next year is a third writing contest that will make the competition an annual event. The Panama Canal Branch of the NALPW, which has a website at http://www.geocities.com/penchicks and can be reached by email at penchicks@yahoo.com, holds a series of reading nights, cultural tours and other events throughout the year. Although the group's membership is female, men and boys can and do participate in most of their activities, including the Anona Kirkland Writing Contest.

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