Andrea Dominick, an Iowa State student, thought someone was trying to sell her magazines, but when she returned phone messages, she found out she won first prize for her essay titled “A Rented Room” in a contest sponsored by Writer’s Digest magazine.

Dominick is a first year graduate student in creative writing who won a $500 cash prize, $100 worth of books and will have her essay published in the upcoming contest booklet for Writer’s Digest.

After returning from Alaska, Dominick had several phone messages waiting for her, but never returned them until she received a check in the mail saying she had won a contest.

Dominick said she won first place out of 13,000 entries in the mainstream genre short fiction category.

“A Rented Room,” is based on the funeral for Dominick’s sister.

“The essay is a 2,000-word description of the funeral and took place as I was standing in front of the casket,” she said.

Dominick said she decided to enter the contest on a whim after she saw a notice posted on a bulletin board in Ross Hall.

Steve Pett, Dominick’s adviser, said she also won the AWP (Associated Writing Press) Intro Award Competition last April.

Dominick said her piece “Needles,” which won the AWP award, is in the current issue of the Indiana Review.