Anna Kate Joyner wins the 2023 Interview an Octogenarian Writing Competition

Each year, in conjunction with Tales from the Altamaha play, we run an Interview an Octogenarian Writing Competition. The contest is open to all school-aged children in Toombs County. The purpose is to gather local history from someone around 80 years of age and document the stories they remember as a child. You see, T. Ross Sharpe, lawyer and historian of Lyons in the 1950s and 60s, the author of the tales portrayed in the play, didn't write much about children or women. So we thought we'd gather our own info from the best resource around, older folks in Toombs County.

Each year, the winner of the contest receives $100 and their story is written into the script for next year's play. This year's winner is Anna Kate Joyner with her story entitled "A Toombs County Man". You may know him or at least heard of him, Charles 'Spec' Nobles. Join us for next year's Tales from the Altamaha and learn where Spec got his nickname.

The runners up are Jarret Reaves and Yates Pye.