Paducah, Kentucky (August 5, 2016) – West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Britton Shurley of Paducah is one of six recipients from across the state to receive the 2016 Emerging Artist Award given by the Kentucky Arts Council each year.
Shurley, dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, & Social Sciences division and associate professor of English, said he is humbled by the honor.
“It’s exciting to know that my work struck such a chord with the Arts Council committee and to be named alongside these other fine writers,” said Shurley. “If you look at the work they are doing, and the work of this year’s Al Smith Fellowship recipients, you can clearly see the abundance of quality literature being produced throughout the Commonwealth.”
Each award recipient will receive the $1,000 award, which recognizes practicing, professional artists who create original work and are in the first ten years of their arts careers. For this round of Emerging Artist Awards, panelists considered entries from artists in the choreography and literary arts disciplines.
Shurley, who has worked at the college for eight years, annually teaches two creative writing classes and his work has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in such journals as the Valparaiso Poetry Review, Wacamaw, Zone 3, and the Southern Indiana Review.
Shurley is also the faculty editor for the college’s literary journal, Exit 7, which strives to publish engaging literature and to give community college students the unique opportunity to work as editors on a nationally distributed literary journal.
The other 2016 Emerging Artist Award recipients are Daviess County resident Joey Connelly for poetry, Jefferson County residents Ann DeVilbiss, Dave Harrity and Mary Elizabeth Pope for poetry and Jefferson County resident Dominic Russ-Combs for fiction.
Emerging Artist Award applications are accepted from different disciplines on a rotating basis with the next round of awards to be given to artists in the visual and media arts. The deadline to apply is Feb. 15, 2017.
Registration for fall classes at WKCTC is underway. Call 1-(855) GO-WKCTC or visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu for class offerings. Fall classes begin August 15.
Shurley, dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, & Social Sciences division and associate professor of English, said he is humbled by the honor.
“It’s exciting to know that my work struck such a chord with the Arts Council committee and to be named alongside these other fine writers,” said Shurley. “If you look at the work they are doing, and the work of this year’s Al Smith Fellowship recipients, you can clearly see the abundance of quality literature being produced throughout the Commonwealth.”
Each award recipient will receive the $1,000 award, which recognizes practicing, professional artists who create original work and are in the first ten years of their arts careers. For this round of Emerging Artist Awards, panelists considered entries from artists in the choreography and literary arts disciplines.
Shurley, who has worked at the college for eight years, annually teaches two creative writing classes and his work has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in such journals as the Valparaiso Poetry Review, Wacamaw, Zone 3, and the Southern Indiana Review.
Shurley is also the faculty editor for the college’s literary journal, Exit 7, which strives to publish engaging literature and to give community college students the unique opportunity to work as editors on a nationally distributed literary journal.
The other 2016 Emerging Artist Award recipients are Daviess County resident Joey Connelly for poetry, Jefferson County residents Ann DeVilbiss, Dave Harrity and Mary Elizabeth Pope for poetry and Jefferson County resident Dominic Russ-Combs for fiction.
Emerging Artist Award applications are accepted from different disciplines on a rotating basis with the next round of awards to be given to artists in the visual and media arts. The deadline to apply is Feb. 15, 2017.
Registration for fall classes at WKCTC is underway. Call 1-(855) GO-WKCTC or visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu for class offerings. Fall classes begin August 15.