The 2016–2017 100 High School Girls scholarship committee met on March 23, 2017, to read essays submitted by 34 Kansas City high school student applicants. Although there were 37 fewer applicants than last year, the quality of the essays was outstanding. (We had two fewer schools to select from due to the closing of the Southwest Early College Campus and Van Horn moving to the Independence school district.)

The final three 100 High School Girls scholarship recipients are: Rapuluchukwu Okolo from Paseo Academy, Sylvia Joerke from Paseo Academy, and Rae Nia Hill from Northeast High School. This year we added a book scholarship in lieu of holding an awards event at Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. The winner of the book scholarship is Chebet Bucker from Lincoln Academy. Congratulations to all the applicants!

Many thanks to Paula Coyote Schaaf who arranged a meeting space at Penn Valley Community College for the committee to read and select our winners. Special thanks to committee members: Earlene Bentley, Kathleen Brandt, Mollie Caldwell, Riva Capellari, Cynthia Ginn, Stefanie Hatfield, Ellen Johnson, Dodie Murphy and Jane Vincent for their hard work and dedication.

A joyful time was had by all at the annual Wagy Awards & Holiday Luncheon at MissionHills Country Club on December 3. Guests convened for delicious cuisine, good conversation, and to hear from representatives from three wonderful organizations receiving Wagy grants and how they plan to use the funds to help local women and girls.

Congratulations to the 2016 Wagy Award recipients:

• Journey to New Life received $4,000 to provide help for women returning to society from prison. (www.journeytonewlife.org)

• Rightfully Sewn received $4,000 to provide seamstress training for at-risk women.  (www.rightfullysewn.org)

• Metropolitan Community College Foundation received $1,000 toward scholarships for disadvantaged women who are attending college to earn a Liscensed Practical Nursing and associated degrees. (www.mcckc.edu/foundation/)

Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award nominations will be accepted until May 1, 2018. The award, presented by the American Association of University Women-Kansas City Branch and the Kansas City Public Library, is presented to a local author in recognition for their excellence in writing. The award will be presented at a luncheon in October 6, 2018 and includes a $500 check, certificate of recognition, and listing on the library’s website.

NOMINATION GUIDELINES:

• Nominated materials must be received no later than May 1, 2018.

•  Nominations may be published works of fiction, non-fiction, children’s books or poetry.Text books, guide books, and how-to manuals are not eligible. Blogs and compilations of blogs are considered pre-published and are not eligible to be considered for the Thorpe Menn Award. Previous first-place winners are not eligible.

•  Nominated authors must reside in the greater Kansas City area – Jackson, Cass, Clay, Lafayette and Platte counties in Missouri, and Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. 

•  All nominations must be initially published in 2017.

• Two (2) copies of the nominated book must be submitted to the address below or an eBook must be submitted to the email below.

•  EBooks must be submitted in PDF (Portable Document Format) format only. (Judges must be able to view your eBook on any device, print it, and make a backup copy.) EBooks must not contain any DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. If the eBook is sold in DRM format only, most publishers will be able to provide a non-DRM file for use in a judging competition. If the publisher is not able to provide a non-DRM format, many formats can be converted to a PDF using free conversion software available online.

• All submissions must include a contact name, mailing address, email, and telephone number. 

Two copies of the nominated printed book should be mailed to:

Thorpe Menn Nominations

Attn: Jane McClain

P.O. Box 8831

Kansas City, MO 64114

EBook nominated files should be emailed to: thorpemenn@gmail.com

For more information, please call Jane McClain at (816) 444-2152 or email thorpemenn@gmail.com.

Local authors and guests gathered at the Kansas City Central Library for the 38th Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award on October 1. The award was established in 1979 by AAUW-KC to honor Thorpe Menn, longtime book editor of The Kansas City Star, who supported all aspects of Kansas City’s cultural life, especially local authors and artists.

The 2016 Literary Excellence Award was presented to Patrick Dobson for his book Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer. The finalists were: Andrea Warren for The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas and James P. Muehlberger, The 116: The True Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Lost Guard.

Special thanks to our keynote speaker Barbara Stuber, award-winning author and museum docent, Vivien Jennings and Roger Doeren of Rainy Day Books, and the Kansas City Public Library.

We are already making plans for the 39th event in October 2017. If you would like to nominate an author, go to the Thorpe Menn page under “Events” for guidelines and instructions. The deadline for nominations is May 1, 2017.