Judges

Cathy Oasheim

Cathy Oasheim is the founder of Oasheim Editing Services, LLC in Chantilly, Virginia. An editor of non-fiction in the realm of the memoir, military, restorative justice, Christian, and business, she also teaches a variety of editing and public speaking workshops for the Indie author. A second career as an editor began with an internship at a small press prison writing ministry while completing an Applied Psychology at Regis University, Denver CO. The dream of hanging out the LPC shingle for business become instant history when she edited the first memoir of an army veteran in prison for murder. An avid reader with eclectic tastes of all things nonfiction, her world continues to be fun and interesting.

Cynthia McCloud

Cynthia McCloud earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry from West Virginia Wesleyan College. A print journalist for 25 years, she teaches English Language Arts to academically at-risk teenagers at a quasi-military residential school and English Composition to community college freshmen. She proofreads fiction and nonfiction manuscripts for an independent publishing company and has served as the company's publicist in the past. Her poetry appears in the literary journals Alchemy and Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities. Her essays appear in The Washington Post and Change Seven.

Don Helin

Don Helin is an award-winning author, who has published nine novels. After a thirty-year army career including three tours and ten years in the Pentagon, Don worked several years as a travel writer after attending the Washington Post Travel Writer Course. He conducts workshops on writing memoirs, writing creative non-fiction, and writing fiction, including character development, pacing, dialogue, and research. He is active with the Pennsylvania Writers Committee, is a frequent speaker at conferences, and is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. 

Eliot Parker

Eliot Parker is the author of four thriller novels, of which his most recent book, A Final Call, was named a "Best Book to Discover in 2022" by Kirkus Magazine and an honorable mention at the London Book Festival. His short story collection, Snapshots won the PenCraft and Feathered Quill Book Awards. A recipient of the West Virginia Literary Merit award, Eliot hosts the books podcast program Now, Appalachia, on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network and teaches writing at the University of Mississippi. 

Guntaas Kaur Chugh

Guntaas Kaur Chugh is an author, illustrator, and DEI consultant/sensitivity reader working in publishing and entertainment. She has collaborated on 700+ books, comic books, and scripts across the UK, USA and South Asia with each of the 'Big Five' publishers and worked via established organizations like Inclusive Minds, Write Up and Just Content UK. Her portfolio consists of 20+ established English-language publishers. Guntaas appears in numerous publishing-focused directories worldwide. She has a Master's in Publishing from University College London (UCL) and has also served as an editor on the coveted UCL Publishers' Prize 2020. She was a panellist at the Golden Egg Academy's 'Honkference' in 2021, where she was invited to speak about her role and experience in the publishing industry. She has also been a consultant to the judges of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards for three years. Guntaas has worked extensively in both academic and trade publishing on both Fiction and Non-Fiction titles. 

Kim Riggs

Kim Riggs is an M.B.A and M.A., who has been employed as a practice manager for a university medical clinic, and mental health counselor. She has written and taught in-depth inductive Bible studies for 20 years and has created a compilation of best books for children in 2000 utilizing a variety of sources. This compilation was used by moms of preschoolers, homeschool paresnts, and various women's groups. She is also a life-long reader of both fiction and non-fiction.

Lynn Salsi

Lynn Salsi has had over 35 years of experience as a reporter, writer, public relations executive, editor, and university professor. Having earned her BA in Journalism, MA in Creative Writing, and MFA in Writing Fiction, she has taught university-level Fiction, Non-Fiction, Composition, World Literature, American Literature, and Storytelling for Game Design majors. She was selected as a guest author and lecturer at Emory University in Atlanta and was North Carolina’s ‘Historian of the Year’. Lynn is a Winner of 35 writing awards, including a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize. She was a Winner of the American Library Association’s ‘Notable Book Award’. Besides being the Author of 15 books, Lynn contributes to essay anthologies, “How-to” articles, keynote speeches for humanities groups, university professional development, youth writing conferences, and professional women’s groups. She has vast experience in fiction and non-fiction writing for newspapers and magazines as a Writing Workshop Leader.

Mark Riggs

Mark Riggs is an M.A. in English and Secondary Education and a retired clergyman, who has six years of experience in teaching English at the college level. He has conducted pre-doctoral research in writing instruction and has served as layout editor of The Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky's Student Newspaper. Mark is an advisor and instructor for Quill and Scroll, the national winning newspapers at three American high schools. Having taught world, American, and British literature, and conducted extensive work with short stories, his area of expertise lies in fiction. 

Menelika Basele

Menelika A Basele has an MBA and prior to that successfully completed her Associate of Arts from Georgetown University Law School and Bachelor of Science from the College of Biblical Studies. She has worked extensively in the legal and healthcare fields, University Academia, and for the U.S. Senate in Capitol Hill, Washington DC. Being an avid writer, Menelika has served as a ghostwriter and editor on numerous projects.

Patti Wood

Patti Wood has been a Junior and Senior High French and English teacher as well as an Information Technology Programmer and Quality Control Manager for a major utility company. She has been a part of USAID and has taught Word Processing, developed a computer network between 3 buildings, managed and performed security and backup procedures, and maintained and repaired 54 staff workstations in Mogadishu, Somalia. She has served as a Proofreader and Assistant Event Coordinator for an independent publisher and organized author book signings. Her area of expertise lies in both fiction and non-fiction literature.

Randi Cramer

Randi Cramer is a Paralegal professional and an Alcohol and Drug Educator. She is also an avid reader of all genres.

Robert Quattlebaum

Robert Quattlebaum is an IT professional who began his career with Network Communications, a printing and publishing company. He engaged in a self-study for writing fiction and his first novel, published in 2019, placed in the top ten in the Jerry Jenkins First Novel contest. After publishing his second novel, he began pursuing a part-time career as a professional editor, and has worked as a part-time freelancer editor for several companies since that time. Robert has been a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) since 2019 and a member of The Christian PEN Editors Association since 2021. He has served as a judge for numerous contests since becoming an editor. Robert edits and judges fiction and non-fiction literary works.

Sandy Tritt

Sandy Tritt is a writer, ghostwriter, editor, teacher, and speaker. As the founder and CEO of Inspiration for Writers, Inc., an international editing and critiquing service, she has edited hundreds of manuscripts and ghostwritten dozens more. She is the author of multiple books including Inspiration for Writers Tips and Techniques Workbook and THE PLAIN ENGLISH Writer's Workbook, has edited several anthologies and has served as an editor for Confluence Literary Magazine for several years. She has not only published books traditionally and independently, but has also assisted her clients through the publishing process. She frequently leads workshops at writing conferences and book festivals. 

Sherry Sklar

Sherry Sklar is a writer, public relations and marketing executive, and former magazine editor. She spent much of her professional career in New York City in communication roles in the performing arts, finance, and media. She began her career at International Creative Management as a staff publicist in their classical music division. She also had a fantastic opportunity to review manuscripts for the agency's television and literary departments.

As a fashion editorial staffer at Mirabella Magazine, Sherry wore several hats organizing fashion shoots, running the fashion closet, participating in editorial meetings and managing budgets. She was also a contributing writer to Phoenix Home & Garden magazine and a book reviewer for Kirkus Discoveries. Later, working at the League for Innovation in the Community College, she managed its annual Literary and Art Competition with submissions across the United States and Canada. Sherry is currently a freelance journalist for Arcadia News, a Phoenix community newspaper, and manages social media for clients in higher education.

Stephen Wotring

Stephen Wotring spent 40 years in public education with Preston County Schools holding the Superintendent and Directorial positions. He has been a part of several educational committees and has served as a Principal and a teacher at several schools. In the literary world, he is an avid reader whose area of interest lies in fiction although he has read much non-fiction in his career.

Susan Wallerstein

Susan Olsen Wallerstein has nearly forty years of experience in public education at the district, regional and state levels. She began her career as a world languages teacher and worked on behalf of the Connecticut State Department of Education, the French Government as a co-facilitator for a program in Senegal helping educators enhance teaching and learning about non-western cultures, and was selected as a PIER (Programs in International Educational Resources) Fellow by the MacMillan Center at Yale University. After completing her Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, she served as Chair of the Norwalk Arts Commission. She has facilitated networking for writers about self-publishing options. 

Wende Dikec

An Award-Winning and Bestselling Author of over 22 Romance and Women’s Fiction novels, Wende Dikec, aka Abigail Drake, teaches in the Writing and Publishing Department at Lincoln Park Performing Arts High School. She has taught writing workshops at Pennwriters, West Virginia Writers, Maryland Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and Contemporary Romance Writers of America. She has also taught classes on being a hybrid author (both traditional and self-published) and on the self-publishing process.  Wende has been published by large and small presses, and has also self-published a book. She is also the co-founder of Romancing Your Muse - an author coaching business.