Apps is a  professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of dozens of books, many of them on life in rural Wisconsin. His titles include:  Mills of Wisconsin and the Midwest, Wisconsin Traveler's Companion, Barns of Wisconsin, One Room Country Schools, Rural Wisdom -- Time-Honored Values, and Cheese: the Making of a Wisconsin Tradition. He also taught creative writing for the UW Extension and most recently taught at The Clearing in Door County. 

Dorothy Lund of Hayward for "A Night at Crystal Rock"

Lund reminiscences about a childhood high point: attending a Johnny Cash North Woods concert many years ago. This delightful piece grabs the reader with the first line and never lets go. It includes wonderful detail (boys with duck-tail haircuts shining with Brill Cream), suspense (where to find seven dollars, would Johnny Cash meet my expectations?), teenage fantasy ("we ached to fall in love as hard as we could") and romance (the author married the uncool guy who took her to the Crystal Rock to hear Johnny Cash belt out "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "I walk the line").

Sue Wentz of Portage for "The Difference Makers" 

Wentz writes about a class for youngsters that concentrates on improving the environment. With a conversational and highly informative writing style, the author tells us about 18 young people who are making an extraordinary contribution to their community. We learn what these young people are doing (conservation improvement activities), and how they are doing it (getting their hands dirty and their feet wet). We discover that they are seventh and eighth graders attending a special charter school that is concerned about the environment, and doing something about improving it as well. The piece is carefully constructed, begins well and ends with an interesting statement: "Protecting nature begins, very literally, at the grassroots level."

Julia Shea of West Allis for "Eagle River Dreams" 

Be careful of your dreams, Shea warns. Sometimes they come true and reality isn't what you thought it might be. (City girls comes to realize that living in the northern part of the state may not be as idyllic as she thought.) Good beginning. Surprise ending. Many of us long for a place in the North Woods, away from the hustle and bustle of busy lives in an urban area. Yet, as this writer tells us, be careful. A good dose of reality checking should be mixed with our dreaming—especially when it involves moving to an isolated area where doctors are scarce, family is far away, and important family celebrations are missed.

Nate Scholze of Sparta for "The Sweet Smell of Honeysuckle"

Perspectives at the funeral of a boyhood pal inspired Scholze to write this article. In this brief piece we learn about family and loss. A brother has not seen another brother for seven years, and now he is at the funeral parlor where he "shuffled slowly past a light gray coffin and remembered an earlier time when the sweet smell of honeysuckle drifted freely in the air". The old man looks at the motionless figure in the casket and memories return of when they were both little boys.

John J. Mutter, Jr. of Shawano for "Dark Period in Life"

Mutter writes about coping with grief as several close friends pass away. As the title suggests, this is a dark piece about death and another death and yet another. Death upon death in a relatively short period of time, seven people in six months. The author, who experienced all this darkness in life ends the piece with a glimmer of hope, that of a little oak tree found growing in a back field. The author is encouraged by this simple symbol of the future.