2016 | Tony LoPresti

Tony LoPresti is a veteran of theater and independent film. He has coached youth soccer on a local level and fencing with high school age kids on an international level. His children’s cat care book, My Cat, was published in May of 2012 by 4RV Publishing and won an “Excellence in Writing” award from The Cat Writers Association. His Education: B.S. in Biology, B.A. in Accounting, and half-an-MBA. He served as President of OWFI in 2016 and is currently working on a new children’s book, Storm Sentinel, and a concept to prevent the migration of the Asian carp in the Illinois River.

2019 | Staci Mauney

Staci Mauney holds a Master of Education in Secondary Education from Cameron University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU). She grew up and spent most of her life in southwestern Oklahoma and enjoys traveling around the United States to visit family and see new sights. She likes to take her sassy Yorkie, Lilly, for long walks in the park. She is active in LifeChurch and volunteers in her local community. She runs a freelance editing business, Prestige Prose, which can be found online at www.prestigeprose.com. She is the author of Echoes of Joy: 30 Days of Experiencing God’s Grace and maintains a Christian devotional blog of the same name. She has had short stories published in Chicken Soup for the Shopper’s Soul; Owl Hootings, Vol. II; and Oklahoma: The Fountain of the Heartland.

2018 | Sabrina A. Fish

Sabrina A. Fish is author of three YA fantasy novellas in the multi-author Shine series and the soon-to-be published Diomere's Exile, the first book in her fantasy romance series, The Gate Keepers Chronicles. She is an annual featured speaker at the Rose State Writing Conference and has been a panelist at Comic Con Wizard World speaking on the topic of female leads. She loves and advocates being involved in the local writing community. She is President for the 2018 Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc (OWFI), was Conference Chair for the 2017 OWFI conference and was the 2012 President of the OWFI affiliate, Oklahoma City Writers, Inc.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, she considers the three years she spent in a Texas high school to be a short trip down the rabbit hole that ended at graduation. She returned to Oklahoma where she received her Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma. BOOMER SOONER. She owns a trophy and awards company in Oklahoma City with her husband where she collects potential character names from lists of award winners. She is blessed to be called mom by what she considers to be the most beautiful little boy in the entire universe.

You can find more about Sabrina and her books at www.SabrinaAFish.com.

2007 | Carolyn B. Leonard

Award winning writer, Carolyn B. Leonard, was awarded lifetime membership in OWFI in 2010.

“From the time I could read, I knew I wanted to be a writer,” Leonard said. “English and literature were my favorite subjects, and I always loved solving mysteries and researching to learn more about everything.”

She has several books in process and two books available on Amazon.com: Who’s Your Daddy? A Guide to Genealogy from Start to Finish, and the travel and history photo book, To Israel, With Love. Both books are being prepared for an updated second edition that should be on the market by Christmas.

Leonard’s historical novel and several non-fiction manuscripts have claimed awards in state and national competition, but remain incomplete. She plans to finish them all this year (every year), but her hobbies of flower gardening, photography, genealogy, computer networking, writer meetings, travel with her retired engineer husband Jon Heavener, friends, family and grandchildren habitually interfere.

Her background is mostly in newspaper and magazines, and she was a commissioned writer more than 15 years for Persimmon Hill, the award-winning magazine of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

1993, 2009 | Marcia Preston

Marcia Preston’s career answers the burning question: What can you do with an English degree? She has edited two national magazines, taught high school English, served as PR director for a museum, and freelanced for a long list of publications. Her novels have been published in at least seven languages and have earned a Mary Higgins Clark Award, an Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction, and four OWFI Best Book of Fiction awards. She’s a past president and honorary life member of both Oklahoma City Writers and OWFI, as well as a gardener, amateur lepidopterist, birdwatcher, and college football fan.

2008 | Amy Shojai

Amy Shojai has been reinventing herself for years. She’s a certified animal behavior consultant for cats and dogs, and the award-winning author of 30 best selling pet books that cover furry babies to old-fogies, first aid to natural healing, and behavior/training to Chicken Soup-icity. She co-founded the Cat Writers Association, created the puppies.about.com site as the Puppies Expert and was the cat behavior expert at cats.about.com, and you can find her half-hour Internet Pet Peeves radio shows here. Amy has been featured as an expert in hundreds of print venues including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and Family Circle, as well as national radio and television networks such as CNN, Animal Planet’s DOGS 101 and CATS 101. She’s been a consultant to the pet products industry and a host/program consultant for select “furry” TV projects.

Amy is also a musician, actor and playwright, and brings her unique pet-centric viewpoint to public appearances and performances, audio books (her own and others), writer webinars, conference keynotes/seminars and thrillers with bite!

2012 | Linda Apple

Linda Apple served as the Conference Chair for OWFI in 2011 and as Conference President in 2012. She teaches both fiction and nonfiction workshops regionally as well as internationally. Linda is the author of five nonfiction books and two novels. Her novels are the first books in her Moonlight Mississippi series. Linda lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband Neal, their five children and thirteen grandchildren.

2010, 2011 | Dan Case

Dan Case sold his first magazine article in 1983 and has now written hundreds. In 1997, Dan started a website and newsletter for writers (Writing for DOLLARS!) which evolved into AWOC.COM Publishing. Besides operating the publishing company, Dan speaks at writers groups and conferences around the country on blog writing, book marketing and other writing related subjects.