Joplin, MO (SNS) – Four freshmen received cash awards as winners of a Spain Semester writing contest at Missouri Southern State University.

Each of the students was required to use one of four writing prompts taken from the book “Only in Spain: A Foot Stomping Firecracker of a Memoir about Food, Flamenco and Falling in Love.”

The book was the common reader for first-year University Experience classes during the current semester.  The winners enjoyed lunch on Wednesday, Nov. 18, with the author of “Only in Spain,” Australian writer Nellie Bennett.

  • Dalton Dailey, freshman biochemistry major from Belton, Mo., won first place. He was awarded a cash prize of $125.
  • Danielle Plutino, freshman nursing major from Diamond, came in second. She won a cash prize of $100.
  • Ciera Christy, freshman dental hygiene major from Grove, Okla., came in third. She won $50.
  • Tracy Fisher, non-degree seeking student from Fort Smith, Ark., received a $25 cash prize as fourth-place winner.

The judges of the contest were officers of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society at Missouri Southern. Holly McSpadden, professor of English & Philosophy at MSSU, is Sigma Tau Delta faculty sponsor.

-WWW.MSSU.EDU-