The South Carolina Creative Sociology Writing Competition invited undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline in a South Carolina college or university to use creative writing as a means to think critically about our social world and issues of social justice. We are thrilled to present the winning submissions in this issue of Waccamaw.

More than forty students from eleven different schools submitted short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that explored the contest’s theme of “Empathy and Science.” A panel of judges from the departments of Sociology and English at Coastal Carolina University chose winning entries from five different universities based on the skill of their creative writing and their demonstration of the sociological concepts and theory that contextualize the work.

This contest was funded by CCU’s Spadoni College of Education and Social Sciences, CCU’s Social Justice Research Initiative, and by South Carolina Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information about the sponsors and the contest, please see: https://www.coastal.edu/soc/creativesoc/

First Place

“Disappointing Fruit,” a poem by Savannah Jones of Furman University

Second Place

“Brief Diary of an Instacart Delivery Driver,” creative nonfiction by Brandi Meceda DeHaven of University of South Carolina-Aiken

Third Place (tie)

“Sweet Tea, No Ice,” a poem by Sydney Hayes of Coastal Carolina University

Third Place (tie)

“When I Was Younger,” a poem by Alisa Wharton of Clemson University

Social Justice Focus

“Remembered,” short fiction by Caitlin Lewis of Winthrop University