Local arts award winner to present reading Nov. 6

The Delaware Division of the Arts recently honored Judy Catterton with its coveted Individual Artist Fellow Award in the Established Professional - Nonfiction Writer category.

This prestigious fellowship acknowledges the outstanding quality of Catterton’s work as well as providing a monetary prize. The award-winning work comes from her forthcoming memoir based on her exceptional legal career, which includes a collection of essays giving readers a rare inside look at courtroom drama. A number of individual essays have been featured in literary magazines. Catterton was previously honored by the DDA in 2015 as that year’s Emerging Nonfiction Writer.

Currently residing in Rehoboth Beach, Catterton was one of the first women prosecutors in Maryland at a time when the field was dominated by men. Smashing the glass ceiling in her legal world, she was the first woman in Maryland to be inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization that limits membership to no more than 4% of the number of trial lawyers in a state. Catterton was also the first woman president of Maryland’s Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. She won numerous awards for her exceptional legal work.

Catterton taught criminal procedure and trial practice at The American University’s law school. She is also a noted artist, and for the past 10 years has taught memoir and essay writing for the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild. In addition, Catterton writes a lively newsletter for the popular Rehoboth Beach Farmers Market every week in season.

Catterton’s latest Delaware Division of the Arts award includes a requirement to showcase her work, and she plans to present a reading from one of her essays Thursday, Nov. 6, at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. For details, email judyleibowitz28@gmail.com.