I clearly remember the day when Tom McKenzie came into my bookstore and asked if the Peninsula
Pulse’s new writing contest could be named aft er my father. Tom was a regular visitor to the
store who enjoyed talking about books. He would frequently ask for thoughts on the latest issue of
the Peninsula Pulse – a newspaper he had co-founded with David Eliot – from my father when he
was alive, or from my mother or me if we were in the store.
Through the years, the growth of the annual contest moved through several changes including
a name change and the additions of photography and nonfi ction to the existing poetry and fi ction
categories. Businesses and individuals were gracious in their support of the contest from the outset.
Still, the evolution was slow and though the number of entries in all categories grew steadily
through the years, we still felt there were many more possibilities we had yet to explore.
Last year, with the addition of Write On, Door County as a collaborator many of
