Awards

Write Place is pleased to announce the first annual Loie Bunse Prize for Nature Writing, honoring the poet and educator, Loie Bunse (1940-2020).

All Western Oregon University students are eligible. The winning author will receive $300 and publication on the Write Place website. The deadline for entries is March 1, 2025.

This award was made possible through a generous gift by Meta Bunse and Garth Bunse.

Loie Bunse was born Lois van Löben Sels in Portland, Oregon. She earned a BA from Willamette University, a teaching certificate from Western Oregon University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Loie worked as a librarian, elementary school teacher, and dance instructor; she also served as a California “Poet-in-the-Schools” and a professor of creative writing at Columbia Community College. Her poetry was published in many journals, including The California Quarterly, The Berkeley Poets Cooperative and Calyx. She was a lifelong educator, poet, and lover of the arts.

Read and listen to Loie Bunse’s poems on Oregon Poetic Voices.