MEET THE JUDGES
Laurie Stolarz (fiction)
Laurie Stolarz is the author of eighteen young adult novels, including the Dark House series, the Touch series, Project 17, and Bleed, all published by Disney/Hyperion Books, as well as the bestselling Blue is for Nightmares series. With over a million books sold worldwide, Stolarz’s titles have been translated into thirty languages, developed into podcast series, and optioned for TV. Her newest title, The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep, was released in 2021, a companion book to Jane Anonymous, which was named a 2020 Best Book by Kirkus and included on several state award lists.
Carla Panciera (non-fiction)
Carla Panciera is the author of Barnflower: A Rhode Island Farm Memoir (Loom Press), Bewildered (University of Massachusetts Press), and winner of AWP’s Grace Paley Award. She has also published two collections of poetry: One of the Cimalores (Cider Press) and No Day, No Dusk, No Love (Bordighera). Her poetry and prose have appeared in numerous journals including Poetry Magazine and the New England Review.
Dawn Paul (poetry)
Dawn Paul is the author of the novel The Country of Loneliness and What We Still Don’t Know, poems on the life and work of scientist Carl Linnaeus. She has also published poetry, fiction and science/nature articles in a variety of journals and magazines, including Orion, Comstock Review and Stonecoast Review. She has been awarded residencies at Shoals Marine Laboratory, Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers’ Conference and The Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center at Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories.
Virginia Buckingham (non-fiction)
Virginia Buckingham is the president of the Marblehead Current, the non-profit paper of record covering local news and community affairs. She is also the author of On My Watch, a memoir on leading the response to the 9/11 attacks as the first female CEO of Boston’s Logan Airport . Buckingham speaks and writes about personal resilience, crisis management and leadership.
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Buckingham had a birds-eye view of Pfizer Inc.’s response to the Coronavirus crisis as a senior executive, helping shape its communications and public affairs strategy as it developed its Covid vaccine in record time, including shepherding the production of National Geographic’s acclaimed documentary “Mission Possible”, the definitive account of the dramatic effort.
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Prior to joining Pfizer, Buckingham was a political columnist and Deputy Editorial Page Editor for Boston’s #2 metro daily, the Boston Herald, penning among other topics, influential endorsements of presidential candidates for neighboring New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
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Buckingham served as chief of staff to two Massachusetts governors and is a frequent public affairs and political commentator on Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB. In 2015, she was selected for the inaugural class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, now in its seventh year, bringing together change-makers across the US to apply the leadership lessons from the presidencies of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson to make a positive difference in the world. Completing On My Watch was Buckingham’s presidential leadership project, a core component of the program.
Kris Olson (fiction)
Kris Olson, consulting editor of the Marblehead Current, has been a professional journalist for 24 years, 14 of which were spent serving as editor of the Marblehead Reporter from 2000 – 2015. He is a staff writer for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
