Awardees Selected for the Shirley Holden Helberg Grants for Mature Women

 

Every odd-numbered year, the National League of American Pen Women, Inc. awards three grants of $1,000 each in art, letters, and music to women 35 years of age or older who are not now nor ever have been a member of NLAPW. Congratulations to these outstanding women who received the 2025 grants.

 

Art: Paula Fontana

Paula Fontana is a mixed-media artist who plans to develop Life Layers, an art and wellness program for seniors. Each participant will receive an art journal to use for reflection, memory-keeping, collage, and self-expression. The collected journals will be shared in a community showcase. The grant money will be used to source art materials for the seniors, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to access.

Fontana is the founder of GraylingHome, a small studio fueled by a big love for creativity, color, and the design-driven act of simplifying forms into bold, essential shapes. Her work blends abstract minimalism with organic silhouettes, layered monotype prints, and bold linework.

She teaches at the Creative Arts School in Delray Beach, Florida, sharing her process through workshops that invite exploration and the meaningful act of creating by hand. Her community practice extends to The Volen Center in Boca Raton, where she works with older adults on painting, collage, and other accessible creative practices that help participants reconnect with themselves, with each other, and with the joy of making.

Fontana’s work is rooted in the belief that creativity belongs to everyone, and making art is a powerful way to feel more alive, connected, and at home in the world.

Letters: Nina C. Peláez

Nina C. Peláez “often draws on her experiences as an adoptee and daughter of a Cuban exile in her work, exploring how absence — of family, homeland, and species — reconfigures our sense of origin and belonging.”

About her grant submission, the finalist judge wrote, “Peláez has managed to demonstrate an impressive range of poetic techniques and approaches. Each poem is unique in form and topic, yet they remain a cohesive collection. Drawing on sources as diverse as birth records and natural history, yet retaining the intimacy of personal grief, she has shaped a story of loss on many levels.”

Peláez is currently at work on two poetry collections. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Atlantic, The Poetry Foundation, Iowa Review, Narrative, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Swamp Pink, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, Waxwing, diode, Only Poems, Verse Daily, and elsewhere.

Her honors include the Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner, the Coniston Prize from Radar Poetry, a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant, and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Scholarship.

Peláez has a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry and a Master of Arts in art history. Based in Maui, she is the associate director of The Merwin Conservancy, the 18-acre palm garden and former home of poet W. S. Merwin.

Music: Nancy Jo Hinsen

Nancy Jo Hinsen is a gifted vocal recording artist, lyricist, songwriter, and ASCAP publisher.
She has produced several original works, including her 2011 album, “All That You Allow,” and her 2013 Christmas release, “Do You Know Why There’s Joy at Christmas?” Her newly composed single, “Thankful,” will debut in 2026.

Hinsen’s musical journey began with performances alongside The Herbie Helbig Trio on Talent in Toronto, followed by her role as featured vocalist at the Ascot Hotel. After receiving classical voice training, she continued to refine her craft under renowned vocal coach Edna Fischer Hayes.

Among her career highlights is a guest performance at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. She also recorded vocals for “Oh, Little Hummingbird,” written by popular Bay Area composer and pianist Robert Van Horne.

Inspired by a revelation from the living God, she is passionately committed to bringing “the light of the world” to the world through music. Hinsen’s songs continue to stream worldwide, providing listeners a pathway to encounter God — especially in life’s most difficult moments — offering guidance, comfort, and renewed hope.

Hinsen continues to serve on the Bethel Church of San Jose worship team, grateful for every opportunity to inspire listeners through song.