Josh Boeringa won the fiction contest in the Central Review for the
second straight time.

The New Era senior won with his piece “A Portrait of the Artist,” a
murder-mystery/writer-did-it story.

The spring edition of The Central Review, Central Michigan
University’s literary magazine, will be released March 28. It can be
picked up near CM Life newsstands.

“It feels great to win twice in a row,” Boeringa said. “I feel
validated.”

Mesick senior Tim Lantz won the poetry contest with his poem “Diese
Leute,” which is German for “These People.”

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve submitted to
the Central Review since I’ve only been doing creative writing for two
years.”

Out of more than 200 submissions, 27 will be featured in the
magazine, a drop from 35 pieces last semester. This semester will
feature some writers with more than two submissions.

“This is great because those are the pieces I feel strongly about
and that I think are great writing,” said Madison Heights senior and
editor Andrea Riley. “But what I’m worried about is that the overall
diversity of this magazine and the writing is not as great as it was
last semester.”

Riley said there was a drop in submissions for this semester because
she lowered the amount of poetry from six to four.

“What I ask is for those people to not get discouraged for not being
accepted,” she said. “Most of the time, many of the pieces were almost
there, but not yet. And as always, submit next semester.”

When it came to picking the winners, Riley and her staff had a hard
time for both sections. They were unsure if Boeringa should have been
awarded the prize again after he won it last semester, she said.

“Josh has a great use of language that fits into this extraordinary
world that is different every time you read his work,” Riley said.

The staff picked Lantz’s piece because of how different his poem was
from the other writers.

Riley hopes that students check out the magazine and said when it
comes to expressing oneself from a creative standpoint, people should
look into it.

“There might be stuff in there they may not like,” she said. “But
what if there is one great poem or one great story that just inspires
them? I would hate for them to miss that.”

All of the writers will attend a reading to read their published
work from the Central Review. It will take place at 7 p.m. March 31 in
the Charles V. Park Library Baber Room.

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