By 
Compiled By John J. Mutter, Jr.
The Shawano Area Writers (SAW) began meeting as a group on January 20, 1966. At one time the membership reached 41 members. Through the years SAW has produced 13 anthologies: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1982, 1984, and 1988. And also a calendar for 1988, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2006, and 2011. Our group membership changed through the years; the 13 anthologies and one calendar represent the work of 97 different writers. In 2016, we published our 14th anthology for our 50th anniversary, now representing 112 different writers through the years.
In 1974, SAW played an important part in the compilation of The Shawano Story – Shawano Centennial 1874-1974. Again in 2003, members of SAW contributed to the work that was done to complete the Shawano County Sesquicentennial 1853-2003.
In the summer of 2001, less than a handful of people interested in the craft of writing huddled at a circular table in the basement of the Shawano City-County Library. The group’s membership was way down, attendance to the meetings was sagging, and members had moved away, the plight of this group that began in 1966 seemed near the end of its existence. The president suggested we contact as many of the members, even those residing out-of-town, and plan a last farewell meal to spend the remaining $150 in our treasury.
I thought it was selfish of us to use the money for food, and I didn’t want to see our writing group disband, so I suggested that we have a writing contest for the kids in Shawano and give the money away in cash prizes. The others at the table thought that was a good idea, and one member said, “But, it’s going to be a lot of work.” Seeing I suggested the idea, I shouldered the formation of the contest. After thinking about it, I decided that limiting the contest to just the kids in the City of Shawano would be depriving the other kids in the county of the chance to compete. So I planned for a county-wide contest. Then I realized that there were homeschooled children, and I included them. I sent a letter to all the schools and homeschooled contacts and that first year of the contest we received 93 entries.
For the first two years of the Student Writing Contest, we held the Awards Presentation for the winning students at the Shawano City-County Library. Because the room at the library wasn’t big enough, we held the Award’s Presentation in the Community Room next to City Hall for the next two years. In the 5th year of the Student Writing Contest, we added Menominee County to the contest. Trilby Beauprey McIntosh was the coordinator for that year and the Award’s Presentation for the winning student writers was held in the Crescent Theatre. I was the coordinator for the 6th and 7th years of the Student Writing Contest and the Award’s Presentation was held where I thought it truly belonged—The Mielke Arts Center.
Every year we were handing out over $500 in cash prizes. In an effort to raise money for the Student Writing Contest SAW entered into an agreement with the Shawano Leader and from 2004 to 2006 we submitted quarterly material that was printed in the Shawano Leader’s Accent Section. For each quarter the Shawano Leader paid SAW $200. We earned money the old-fashioned way—we wrote for it!
In 2007 after the Shawano Leader discontinued our agreement, we had to go back to raising the money by contacting businesses and people in the area, which became difficult. After the 2008 contest I was pretty well burnt out, so the contest ended. In those first seven years of the Student Writing Contest, we received 1,658 entries, handed out 340 awards, and paid $3,286 in cash prizes. Award-winning students came from 16 different schools and homeschooled students in Shawano and Menominee Counties.
In the fall of 2013, SAW received a check, as a result of the George Putz estate for $77,090.32. The money was earmarked for reviving the Student Writing Contest. With no board of directors, SAW floundered with the money. It seemed that each member had a perfect place to invest the money. After a year and a half of wrangling over where to put the money, we decided to keep the money in Shawano and plowed it into a couple of CDs at a local Credit Union. The interest will cover the yearly Student Writing Contest.
So now, with money for cash prizes no longer a problem, we started up the Shawano/Menominee Counties Student Writing Contest again. We named the contest, The George Putz Memorial Student Writing Contest. In 2014, we received 228 entries, handed out 38 certificates of Achievement, and paid the winning students a total of $525. The Award’s Presentation was held in the Community Room next to City Hall in Shawano.
In 2015 we received 255 entries, handed out 38 awards, and paid the winning students $530. The Award’s Presentation was held in the Pavilion at the Shawano County Park.
There are four grade groups for the student writers. 1-2, 3-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Children in these grade groups can submit entries in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The students are competing against other children in their grade group. For the winning writers in the 1-8 grade groups, they receive $25 for 1st place, $15 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd. In the 9-12 grade group 1st place gets $50, 2nd –$25, and $15 for 3rd. There are also Honorable Mention certificates given out for each category in each grade group. All the judging is done by people from outside Shawano and Menominee Counties, and are usually writers. We have a guest speaker come in for the Award’s Presentation and that is usually a writer from within Wisconsin. We try to get an author who has written books for children and then that author can sell his or her books at this event.
The Award’s Ceremony is mainly for the winning students in this contest. We do not promote any of our own books. We may have some of our anthologies available to sell, but other than that we want this to honor the winning student writers. The public is always invited, as are non-winning student writers.
SAW is currently offering a $2,000 scholarship to a graduating senior from Shawano or Menominee Counties who want to pursue a writing type education, such as journalism. So far we’ve given out $3,000 in scholarship money.
Through the 15 years of the Student Writing Contest SAW has received 2,855 entries in the contest, issued 672 Certificate of Achievement awards, and rewarded student writers with $7,586 in cash prizes.
We would like to do more with the money we have in our savings account. We’ve locked the bulk of our money in a CD to cover the writing contest. We ask those who are interested in promoting the written word to think of us in their estate planning. We ask that you arrange to give $1,966 to us at P.O. Box 657, Shawano, which represents the year SAW began as a writing group. Hopefully, as the years and gifts arrive, we can offer a larger scholarship and increase different areas of the writing contest, such as an increase in pay to the judges.
SAW meets every month on the third Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in the basement of the Shawano Library. We look forward to seeing you there!
Thank You!