WRITING COMPETITION DRAWS THE BEST OF EMERGING AUTHORS.

Byline: Jean Russell Vogel Local View

SIMI VALLEY - Writers near and far are invited to enter the 2000 Dorothy Daniels Writing Competition, reports Carol Doering of the annual contest's sponsor, the Simi Valley branch of the National League of American Pen Women.

Men and women ages 18 or older, except local branch members and their relatives, may compete for the $100 first prizes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry, said Doering, spokeswomen for the committee of professional writers, who will judge the expected 500-plus entries.

First-prize winners in the 1999 contest were Megan Ann Garman of Chatsworth, nonfiction; Deborah Warren of Andover, Mass., poetry; and Carol Ann Lindsay of Carlsbad, fiction.

Cited for honorable mention were writers from Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, the Bahamas, Hawaii and several of the continental United States.

Garman, the first-place winner for nonfiction, won a first prize for fiction in the 1996 Daniels contest. She has also won other competitions, and commented that the recognition of her contest entries by judges provides encouragement during the intervals between the periodic publication of her writing in magazines.

Garman's account of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake appeared in the international edition of the London Daily Telegraph. Born in Bedford, England, she has lived in Chatsworth for 10 years.

Although a full-time working partner with her husband, Bill, in the family business of distributing dairy products, Garman decided eight years ago to follow her writing muse. The time seemed right: She had completed her master's degree and her youngest child had married.

Garman credits Joan Jones, her writing teacher at Pierce College, for her success as a writer. She and other students of Jones have continued the critique sessions their teacher started.

In addition to fiction and nonfiction, Garman composes light verse and is working on a novel.

Doering explained that the annual writing competition originated about 20 years ago, and seemed to draw emerging local writers. Its expanded scope now connects also with published writers, who are eligible for branch membership.

Contest entry fees go to the branch fund for donation to Simi Valley cultural efforts.

Complete details and rules may be obtained by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to NLAPW-SCB Contest Rules, P0 Box 1485, Simi Valley 93062. Entry deadline is July 30.