RAY MCCUNE DECLARED A WINNER IN H.O.W. 2002 WRITING CONTEST

Ray McCune, Associate Editor and columnist for THE WAYNEDALE NEWS recently received word that he placed 3rd in the General Outdoor Category, Magazine Division and took a 1st Place Award in the Humor Category, Magazine Division in the Annual Hoosier Outdoor Writer’s writing contest for articles published in 2002. The contest winners were announced at the H.O.W. yearly meeting held in conjunction with the Sports, Vacation, & Boat Show in Indianapolis Saturday, February 15, 2003.

In addition to working for THE WAYNEDALE NEWS, being an author, a lecturer, and a Boy Scout leader, Ray writes a cooking column called KAMPFIRE KOOKIN’ and a humor column called HUMOR CORNER for MidWest Outdoors magazine. Ray also holds the title of Feature Editor for the monthly outdoor publication based in Burr Oak, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.

All entries in the contest had to have been published in a magazine or newspaper during the year 2002. Only members of H.O.W. may enter and to be eligible for membership in the organization, each writer must have been paid for his work. Ray took up writing as a profession after retirement in 1994. “I’ve always been interested in writing,” Ray said holding up his certificates and a check. “I’ve worked for this for a long time; it didn’t just happen overnight.”

Ray has published several hundred newspaper and magazine articles and is the author of a humorous work of fiction entitled, How To Eat A Wild Green Pancake. He said, “With any luck it will be in the bookstores in paperback form before the end of the year. It will be followed by a second book due out sometime around the beginning of next year. It is yet to be titled but it too will be a humorous work of fiction.”

Ray was born and raised in the little town of Gassaway, in the heart of West Virginia. Ray moved to Fort Wayne 38 years ago to work for GTE. Ray lives with his wife Joanne here in Fort Wayne. They’ve been married 34 years and have 4 sons, 1 daughter, and 7 grandchildren. When asked, “What prompted you to become a writer?” Ray replied, “I’ve always been a writer; I didn’t just become one.” When asked, “What advice do you have for writer wanabes?” he answered, “Tell them to follow their dreams and do what they love; the money will follow.”