By Chester Campbell
One of our own was honored last Saturday night at the 2009 Killer Nashville Mystery Conference dinner. The Magnolia Award, which is given annually in recognition of outstanding dedication and service to the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA), was presented to Beth Terrell, who blogs here on Thursdays.
The award was presented by Karen McCullough, president of the Chapter. Beth worked tirelessly for months helping put together the myriad of details required to get the conference and its program ready. Clay Stafford, conference producer, said Beth was the indispensable person he could not have done without.
Killer Nashville is co-sponsored by SEMWA and serves as the Chapter’s main educational event for the year. McCullough was host for a Chapter gathering at the hotel on Friday night.
Beth and I have been members of a Nashville writers group for the past 15 or so years. She is an accomplished mystery writer and a great editor. At our twice-monthly meetings, she can be counted on to offer both encouraging praise and focused criticism that suggests ways the story can be improved.
She works fulltime, and the effort required to get everything ready for the conference severely reduced the amount of time she could devote to her writing. During the days leading up to the opening of Killer Nashville, she was lucky to get in four hours of sleep.
In addition to all her other duties, Beth is serving in her second year as Vice President of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I nominate her for the Murderous Musings Tenacious Spirit of the Year Award.
8 comments:
Congratulations to Beth! It sounds like she's really done a ton of work for Killer Nashville.
I'll have to look into attending the 2010 conference....it's in my neck of the woods. Thanks for the reminder about it.
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Beth, congratulations! I didn't realize you had so many irons in the fire! It's nice to know NWA and Killer Nashville appreciate your dedication. Pat Browning
Beth may look meek, but she's a tiger.
Congratulations, Beth. Chester, I've always said you are the most amazing man, and now I've got to include Beth as the most amazing woman. So talented, so active. I have no idea how either one of you accomplish as much as you do. Killer Nashville is a great program, and Beth is a major reason why. Job well done, and you deserve every bit of the praise you're receiving. And oh yes, I cannot wait to read your new book. Ben
Congratulations, Beth. When you win, we all win:)
Congrats again, Beth. And thanks for all the critical feedback.
Thank you, all of you.
Chester, what a kind and generous post, especially considering that you were a winner too.
Yes, our own Chester Campbell won the Silver Falchion Award for THE SUREST POISON. Now we can all call him an award-winning author. I plan to blog about Chester's award tomorrow.
Congratulations to you both! I can't think of anyone more deserving.
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