Erma Bombeck’s English professor at the University of Dayton inspired her future career with three magical words: “You can write!” Since 2022, the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop has been putting financial support behind those words, making it possible for more emerging writers to achieve their dreams.
This year, three attendees were selected as winners of the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award, given to writers who demonstrate financial need and would benefit from the encouragement, feedback and resources offered during the workshop. The 2026 winners are Damilola Omotoyinbo from Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Jeanni Ritchie from Alexandria, Louisiana; and Odi Welter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The winners submitted portfolios of published essays, articles, poetry and humor writing, and all said attending the workshop would provide even more motivation and support to help continue their writing journeys.
The award is named after DC Stanfa, a writer, humorist and long-time attendee who died unexpectedly in 2021. The award endowment is funded by DC’s husband, Tom Schonecker, and daughter, Cori Hedrick, with generous assistance from family, friends and the Erma writers’ community. The awards cover the full workshop registration fee as well as travel and hotel expenses for all winners.
“Staying committed to your writing goals and investing in your development as a writer isn’t easy, especially when creativity doesn’t always pay the bills,” said Shannon Shelton Miller, co-director of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. “We’re so thankful to DC Stanfa’s family and our Erma community for their generous support in helping more writers achieve their dreams by attending the workshop.”
Previous winners have credited the award for giving them the motivation needed to pursue a longtime goal. Celeste Conner, a writer from Dothan, Alabama, received one of the inaugural awards in 2022, and later this year, she’ll celebrate the publication of her first book.
“I always wanted to tell stories like Erma,” Conner said. “After years of plucking away at my keyboard, a compilation of my essays will be published on June 2 by Koehler Books. It's titled, Don't Let This Get Out in Pinckard, a repeated quote from my daddy’s sister after she said something she shouldn’t have said in front of my sisters and me.”
The March 26-28 workshop is sold out, but writers can add their name to the waitlist or register for Erma Home Schooling, a virtual offering that includes live-streams of the five keynote addresses and four exclusive workshops on humor writing.