NCWN

Five individuals and one organization have been selected to receive the 24th Annual Raleigh Medal of Arts, the City of Raleigh Arts Commission has announced. The recipients are Lucy Daniels, Dr. Charles (Chuck) Davis, Lenard D. Moore, Susan Newberry, Jeffery H. Richardson, and Capital Bank.

The Raleigh Medal of Arts is awarded for lifetime extraordinary achievement in the practice of, or in support of, local arts. Originally based on the National Medal of Arts, the program was inaugurated in 1984 by the Arts Commission so that excellence in the arts could be given special recognition. Over the past 24 years, 122 medals have been awarded. The recipients have ranged from businesses like Progress Energy, arts organizations such as North Carolina Symphony, to artists such as sculptor Thomas Sayre and choreographer Robert Weiss.

Mark your calendars! The 24th Medal of Arts ceremony will take place on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. in Fletcher Opera Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The ceremony will feature special guests (to be announced shortly) and performances, followed by a festive reception. The event will be free and open to the public.

For more information about the selected medal recipients, please visit www.raleighnc/gov or contact the Arts Commission office at (919) 890-3610; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text81479 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A new Novello Festival Press book, coming out in Spring 2009, will celebrate the amazing stories in Carolina sports. The region is home to tales both renowned and obscure: stock car driver Richard Petty, who won 200 NASCAR races; "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who may or may not have thrown the 1919 "Black Sox" World Series, but definitely inspired the movie Field of Dreams; Clemson University, whose Tigers won the 1981 National Championship in college football, and whose campus becomes the 3rd largest city in South Carolina every time they play a home game; the ACC's "Big Four" of college basketball, with nine national titles among them; and Ernie Shore, a Boston Red Sox pitcher who took over a game after his teammate - a Baltimore kid named George Herman Ruth - was ejected for arguing the first pitch, and proceeded to throw a perfect game for which he was never credited. And there is also a basketball player called Michael…

Writers from N.C. and S.C. are invited to submit their work for inclusion in this non-fiction anthology.

“Novello Festival Press will honor the wonderful legacy of sports in our region. We want to represent the diversity of sports: from baseball to basketball, NASCAR to track and field, football and more,” said Amy Rogers, NFP’s Publisher. “And we are proud to announce that accomplished writer Ed Southern will edit the book.”

Ed Southern, editor of the anthology, has been a slot writer for the Winston-Salem Journal sports department, and has played almost every sport there is in a vain attempt to find one he's good at.  But his primary experience of sports has been through investing far too much emotion and energy in the athletic endeavors of others, most of whom are now (disturbingly) younger than he is. Ed is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Writer’s Network, as well as the author of three books. 

Submission guidelines are below:

1. You must be 18 or over.

2. Your submission must be a non-fiction piece about a person, place, or event that relates to sports in the Carolinas. 

3. You may send no more than two submissions, no more than 1,000 words each.

4. We welcome submissions from previously unpublished writers.

5. Send a cover sheet with your name, address, email address, phone number, and one paragraph about yourself.

6. No materials will be returned. DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL LETTERS, PHOTOS OR OTHER MATERIALS.

7. You must grant permission for NFP to edit your piece and print your name and hometown.

8. There is no fee to enter; each accepted contributor will receive $25 and a copy of the finished book.

9. Submissions must be postmarked by September 2, 2008. Send to: Novello Festival Press, 310 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202 or by email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

NFP is the award-winning publishing project of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Its books are available at area bookstores and library branches. Proceeds from book sales benefit the library. For more information, call (704) 416-0706 or visit www.novellopress.org.