Andrew D. Bennett of Cary has won the Truman Capote Literary Trust Scholarship for Creative Writing (prose) for 2015-16. Bennett is a junior at Appalachian State University majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. His first place award is $3,420.

The runner-up in the competition was Sara Bickers, a junior English major from Wake Forest.

Bennett entered two short stories for the competition – “Snow Falls” and “Marlo, the Magnificent.”

“Mr. Bennett’s portrayal of human suffering takes both the emotional and physical forms. But his fiction also reveals that all suffering can be overcome. His writing is clear, graceful, and sensitive,” wrote judge Wiley Cash.

Cash is the New York Times bestselling author of “A Land More Kind Than Home” and “This Dark Road to Mercy,” published by William Morrow/HarperCollins. Cash holds a B.A. in literature from the UNC Asheville, an M.A. in English from UNC Greensboro, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He teaches fiction at UNC-Chapel Hill and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Southern New Hampshire University.

Cash also had praise for Bickers’ entries –“Into Boxes” and “The Night of the Incident.”

“Ms. Bickers’ fiction perfectly captures the struggles of young adults attempting to come to terms with a number of challenges: first love, lost love, ambition. Her writing tempers her characters’ intense emotions with realistic dialogue,” he wrote. “I found ‘The Night of the Incident’ particularly powerful as it represents so many experiences when life gets out of hand.”

Named for the author of the novels “In Cold Blood” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the Truman Capote Literary Trust Scholarship in Creative Writing was established at Appalachian by contributions from the Truman Capote Literary Trust to support the Department of English’s creative writing concentration. The annual scholarship competition alternates between poetry and creative prose. Next year’s competition will be in poetry.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.