The Good Men Project
A Writing Collective
Photo by Stephen Sheffield
Good Men Editors Select National Writing Contest Winner
The Good Men Foundation, a charitable corporation dedicated to helping organizations provide educational, social, financial and legal support to men and boys at risk, announced Perry Glasser as the winner of The Good Men Project National Writing Contest. As the Grand Prize winner, Glasser will receive $1,000, and his essay, "Iowa Black Dirt," will be published in The Good Men Project anthology in November.
“Iowa Black Dirt” is the story of a man unexpectedly gaining full custody of his 8-year-old daughter and then embracing his role as a full-time single parent. “ ‘Iowa Black Dirt’ was first composed during a miserable year in Kansas when I lived in a borrowed furnished basement whose original residents, a cadre of crickets, resented my presence,” recalls Glasser. “Desperate to remember better times, I thought of my years as a single parent. I am happy to report that evil times pass. I even bid the crickets good luck.”
To generate more diverse content for the anthology and to foster a broader dialogue about what it means to be a good man in America, the editors of The Good Men Project sponsored the national writing contest. Each writer submitted an original essay focusing on a defining moment in his life that caused a fundamental change in his understanding of himself as a man.
The Good Men Project received well over 100 submissions. In addition to awarding the winning entry, the judges selected five runners-up for $500 prizes:
- Jeffrey K. Wallace, Trabuco Canyon, Calif., “No One Saw a Thing”
- Keith Ackers, West Chester, Pa., “The Most Important Job”
- Joseph Levens, Smithtown, N.Y., “Resolution”
- Stephen Karl Klotz, York, Pa., “Dad, Retired and Rehired”
- Ricardo Federico, Bowling Green, Ky., “Whatever It Takes”
"The Good Men Project National Writing Contest is a platform for men to communicate through their experiences," says Tom Matlack, who cofounded The Good Men Foundation with James Houghton. “There is no more important question at this moment in history—with markets collapsing, corruption rampant, two foreign wars, environmental disaster at hand, and the fabric of the American family disintegrating—than what it means to be a ‘good’ man.”