Chet Phillips Receives the Runner Up Prize for Best Anger & Revenge Essay

Chester F. Phillips, a Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona, receives the $500 Runner- Up Prize for Best Anger & Revenge Essay (link is external)for “Heroes and Consequences,” an exploration of his response to his teenage sister’s rape, and a commentary on the meaning of masculinity in American culture:

 (excerpt)

“I remember what my best friend, Kevin Adams, said when he called our friend Gary to join us. He had tears in his eyes when I told him my sister’s story, but he tried to sound hard and brave. “Gary,” he said, “You feel like raping some boys?” Gary did not say yes or no at the time, but he joined us at Kevin’s apartment to discuss what to do. … Kevin served us coffee. I felt glad that his girlfriend Janis wasn’t home. We needed “to keep this quiet,” I said. This was talk for men only. I recounted the story for Gary, who shook his head and cursed as I told it. When I finished the telling, there was a brief moment of silence in the room. Gary looked at me and studied my face. Then he looked at Kevin, who nodded in assent to a question we didn’t have to ask out loud. From the Old Testament “eye for an eye” to action movies, the scripts had been written out for us to follow. We started making plans to go after Andy.”

 Phillips is currently working on a book, from which “Heroes and Consequences” is excerpted. This award marks his second CNF contest win, making Phillips the first writer to claim two CNF prizes. His previous essay, “Charging Lions,” won the $500 runner-up prize for an “Animals” issue released in winter 2011, and also earned him recognition as the runner-up for the 2011 PEN/Emerging Writer Award for Nonfiction.

 This winning Anger & Revenge essay was chosen by CNF editors from a competitive pool of nearly 200 contest submissions. Each essay will be published in Creative Nonfiction #43, to be released in December 2011. The issue will also feature an Encounter with Buzz Bissinger; columns by Daniel Nester, Phillip Lopate and Ned Stuckey-French; a new Pushing the Boundaries selection; the best of cnfonline; and more.

Edited by Lee Gutkind, Creative Nonfiction has been devoted exclusively to publishing vividly written literary nonfiction since its first issue, in 1994. In March 2010, with the publication of issue #38, the journal re-launched as a quarterly magazine with an updated look, larger size, and expanded content. Known today as “the voice of the genre,” Creative Nonfiction is an essential resource for anyone with an artistic, professional or critical stake in the genre–or for anyone who simply enjoys true stories, well told.

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