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Magazine Stand :: Radar Poetry – Issue 34

Radar Poetry online literary magazine issue 34 cover image

The newest issue of the online quarterly Radar Poetry is a celebration of the winner and finalists of their annual Coniston Prize, an annual award that recognizes an exceptional group of poems by any poet who identifies as a woman writing in English. This year’s judge was Dorianne Laux, and she selected the following:

Winner: Amy Miller

Finalists: Kenzie Allen, Jessamyn Duckwall, Jenny Grassl, Abi Pollokoff

Radar Poetry 34 features several works from each poet, rounding out the entire issue. Submissions for the next Coniston Prize are open from June 1 – August 1, 2023. The 2022 winner received $1000 and each finalist received $175. In 2022, during the first seven days of contest submissions, Radar Poetry waived fees for BIPOC poets. For more information about the upcoming contest as well as general submissions, visit the Radar Poetry website.

Artwork by Angus McEwan.

Contest Winners :: Cleaver’s 2022 Flash Contest

Cleaver Magazine Flash Contest 2022 logo

Cleaver online literary magazine has announced the winners of their 2022 Flash Contest. Winners, honorable mentions, and finalists will be published in Cleaver Issue No. 40, their 10th-anniversary issue.

Judge: Meg Pokrass

First Place: Sabrina Hicks
“When We Knew How to Get Lost”

Second Place: Janet Burroway
“The Tale of Molly Grimm”

Third Place: Dawn Miller
“The Egg”

HONORABLE MENTION
Laura Tanenbaum
Fannie H. Gray
Andrea Marcusa
Lisa Lanser-Rose
Andrew Stancek
Luke Tennis
Emily Hoover
James LaRowe
Paul Enea
Kris Willcox
Christina Simon

FINALISTS
Theo Greenblatt
Meredith McCarroll
Amanda Hadlock
Madeleine Barowsky
K Moore
Ron Tobey
Sarah Freligh
Nicholas Claro
Joe Artz
Lyn Chamberlin

Able Muse 2022 Contest Winners

Brian Brodeur headshot winner of the Able Muse Poetry Prize 2022

Able Muse: A Review of Poetry Prose and Art has announced the winners of the Write Prize for Poetry and Fiction, judged anonymously throughout by the Able Muse Contest Committee and the final judges, Dennis Must for fiction, and Aaron Poochigian or poetry. The winning writer and the winning poet each receive a $500 prize.

FICTION WINNER: Lorna Brown – “Looking for Anna”

Here is what Dennis Must has to say about Lorna Brown’s winning story: “‘Fiction is the art form of human yearning . . . absolutely essential to any work of fictional narrative art—a character who yearns. And that is not the same as a character who simply has problems . . .’—Robert Olen Butler. Lorna Brown’s ‘Looking For Anna’ embodies the lifeblood of those stories that endure in our memory stream long after they have been read.”

POETRY WINNER: Brian Brodeur [pictured] – “On Mistaking a Stranger for a Dead Friend”

Here is what Aaron Poochigian has to say about Brian Brodeur’s winning poem: “‘On Mistaking a Stranger for a Dead Friend’ has it all—the sounds, the psychology (a whole theory of memory) and, most important of all, playfulness even when the subject is tragic. Bird, riverbank, and a random encounter all blend into a perfect representation of a human mind at work. Bravo!”

Visit the Able Muse blog for a full list of finalists and honorable mentions. Winners and finalists will be published in the Winter 2022/23 issue.

New Book :: Green Burial

Green Burial poetry by Derek Graf published by Elixir Press book cover image

Green Burial
Poetry by Derek Graf
Elixir Press, January 2023

Winner of the Elixir Press 2021 Antivenom Poetry Award, Judge Kirun Kapur had this to say: “Lush and frantic, Green Burial submerges us in a dazzling, apocalyptic pastoral. Here we find a brother’s funeral and a lover’s last drink on the way to rehab as we travel a dreamscape of birds, trash, down-on-their-luck towns, motels and oil derricks. ‘A body falls / through the galaxies / inside an opal,’ the poet writes. And so, we do. In Graf’s hands the end of the world is both grief-stricken and saturated with an exhilarating, hallucinatory zeal.” Derek Graf was born in Tampa, FL. He completed his MFA at Oklahoma State University and his PhD at the University of Kansas. He currently lives in New York City. Green Burial is his first collection.

New Book :: Bright Shade

Bright Shade poetry by Chelsea Harlan published by Copper Canyon Press book cover image

Bright Shade
Poetry by Chelsea Harlan
Copper Canyon Press, October 2022

Winner of the 2022 American Poetry Review Honickman First Book Prize selected by Jericho Brown, Bright Shade is an appreciation of the wild woods, the rolling hills, the Appalachian air, and the little rivers that were the setting of Chelsea Harlan’s upbringing. The poems speak through the liminal space between the body and its relationships to other bodies, and the human relationship with nature—and so climate change is, inevitably, part of this book’s undercurrent of grief. As the author navigates the high highs and the low lows of manic depression, Bright Shade articulates the wonder that accompanies sadness and the sadness that accompanies joy. Chelsea Harlan’s work is humorous, indeed bittersweet (bright / shade), and a little strange in exactly the right way.

New Book :: Visiting Her in Queens

Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet Poetry by Michael Mark published by Rattle Poetry book cover image

Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet
Poetry by Michael Mark
Rattle Poetry, August 2022

Subscribers to Rattle poetry magazine not only get four issues of the journal each year but are also treated to four chapbooks, one being the Rattle Chapbook Prize Winner. This fall, subscribers are receiving Michael Mark’s winning entry, Visiting Her in Queens Is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet, “a kind of family photo album for the final years of a life.” As dementia progresses in Michael’s mother, each poem is at once a snapshot, a foreshadowing and a memory. And like memories, each is revealing, accurate, and blurry. Sample poems can be read on the Rattle website. Michael Mark has walked the Himalayas, Wales, Portugal, and Spain with his two children. He’s the author of two collections of stories, Toba and Toba at the Hands of a Thief (Atheneum).

2022 Raymond Carver Contest Winners

Carve Magazine Raymond Carver Short Story Contest logo image

Carve Magazine recently announced the winners of the 2022 Raymond Carver Contest judged by Dariel Suarez:

FIRST PLACE: Brandon J. Choi for “To Love a Stranger is Certain Death”

SECOND PLACE: Candice May for “A Rugged Border”

THIRD PLACE: Megan Callahan for “Don’t Speak”

EDITORS CHOICE: Abby Provenzano for “Birdsong” and Ned Carter Miles for “–K”

Winners will be published in the Fall 2022 Issue, which is currently in production. The contest runs annually from April 1 — mid-May.

Brilliant Flash Fiction 2022 Writing Contest Results

Brilliant Flash Fiction logo

Online literary magazine Brilliant Flash Fiction announced the winners of their Welcome 2022 Writing Contest judged by Pamela Painter on June 1. This year’s contest saw over 1,000 international entries that kept the editors busy for months.

First place was awarded to L. Michelle Souleret’s “Marsh Omen Augury” in which the narrator is called upon to figure out what thirty-three egrets appearing in an area means.

Helen Chamber’s “Granny Holds Me to Account” won second place as the judge enjoyed the humor and the surprises while A.K. Cotham’s “Driving by Moonlight” won third place for its opening dramatic ride “running full tilt into the future with another wild, and oddly life-affirming, ride.”

Read the stories and view the complete Shortlist at Brilliant Flash Fiction‘s website.

New Book :: The Man with Wolves for Hands

The Man with Wolves for Hands, a novella by Juan Eugenio Ramirez book cover image

The Man with Wolves for Hands
Novella by Juan Eugenio Ramirez
Southeast Missouri State University Press, September 2022

With panting, slobbering wolves where his hands should be, The Man with Wolves for Hands builds shelves, attends an HR meeting, gets drunk in a kiddie pool with his friend The Cowboy, and stumbles into a bacchanalian wake, held in a forest clearing, for a deceased soldier. In The Man with Wolves for Hands, Metaphor folds into allegory, folds into psychological exploration, folds into a meditation on trauma and struggle. These vignettes about a man and his lupine hands explore what it means to be compassionate in a world where perception is tenuous and morality fluid. Elements of myth and folklore anachronistically color the narrative creating a story that winds itself through both the present and some distant, primordial past. Winner of the Nilsen Literary Prize for a First Novel.

New Book :: Lost, Hurt, or in Transit Beautiful

Lost Hurt or in Transit Beautiful poetry by Rohan Chhetri book cover image

Lost, Hurt, or in Transit Beautiful
Poetry by Rohan Chhetri
Platypus Press, June 2022

Selected as the winner of The Kundiman Poetry Prize, Rohan Chhetri’s collection of poetry Lost, Hurt, or in Transit Beautiful is a travelogue of belonging. In parts a separation, a crossing of borders and landscapes, in others the sorrow and depths of home. But ultimately, this is the journey of weary travelers making ghosts of the night. Rohan Chhetri, a writer and translator, is the recipient of a 2021 PEN/Heim Grant for translation, and his poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Revue Europe, AGNI, and New England Review and have been translated into Kurdish, Greek and French.

New Book :: Coining a Wishing Tower

Coining a Wishing Tower poetry by Ayesha Raees book cover image

Coining a Wishing Tower
Poetry by Ayesha Raees
Platypus Press, March 2022

Selected by Kaveh Akbar as winner of the 2020 Broken River Prize, Coining a Wishing Tower by Ayesha Raees is both story and song, a lyrical narrative that gathers and releases. There are moments of childlike wonder and of adult meditation — oftentimes one and the same. In fragments both real and unreal, this is a book of rituals, of history, of surrender. Ayesha Raees identifies herself as a hybrid creating hybrid poetry through hybrid forms. Raees currently serves as an Assistant Poetry Editor at Asian American Writers’ Workshop The Margins and has received fellowships from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Brooklyn Poets, and Kundiman. From Pakistan, she currently lives between Lahore and New York City.

Story Foundation Prize Winner 2022

“Stuck” by Laura Venita Green of New York, New York, is this year’s winner of the third annual Story Foundation Prize. Her story will be featured in the Story summer 2022 issue, which will be released in June.

Story Editor-in-Chief Michale Nye says this about the winning entry: “Green’s story is about a young woman named Tess, who is struggling with alcohol (to put it mildly) and babysitting two children for the weekend while their father is out of town. Then, a mysterious and peculiar Evangelical girl comes in from the woods. It gets stranger from there. It’s a rich, peculiar story that stood out for its evocative characters and wonderful tension throughout the narrative. A truly unforgettable story that I know you’re going to love reading.”

Continue reading “Story Foundation Prize Winner 2022”

New Book :: The High Price of Freeways

The High Price of Freeways by Judy Juanita book cover image

The High Price of Freeways
Stories by Judy Juanita
Livingston Press, July 2022

Co-Winner of the Tartt First Fiction Award, this collection looks at the Black experience in Oakland, California, from the founding of the Black Panthers to present day. Judy Juanita is a teacher, poet, novelist, and playwright who served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper of the Black Panther Party in 1968 while attending San Francisco State and joined the nation’s first Black Student Union.

4th Annual Adrift Chapbook Contest Winners Available for Pre-order

2021 Adrift Chapbook Contest Winners banner

Driftwood Press has announced last year’s Adrift Chapbook Contest Winners are available for pre-order on their website.

Jennifer Silverman’s Bath is set to be released in May of this year. 2021 contest judge Traci Brimhall had to say this about Silverman’s collection

Jen Silverman’s poems are baptisms of desire. They’ve traveled the world and come back to tell you the pleasure to be found there, the holes of each leaving, the way it is all “drenched in light and wine.” Economical in syntax and generous in image, Bath astonishes at every turn with its heart, its wisdom, its waters.

Melody S. Gee’s The Convert’s Heart is Good to Eat is set to be released in June. Brimhall said of Gee’s collection

Melody Gee’s gorgeous poems offer both divine wounds and delicious consolations. At the intersections of the familial and the sacred, The Convert’s Heart is Good to Eat reminds us that what is created is also consumed. Beautiful, sensory, and aching, this collection reminds us that not all hungers are mortal ones.

Pre-order your copies today!

Gemini Magazine Announces Winners of 13th Annual Flash Fiction Contest

Banner with gemini magazine 13th annual flash fiction contest winners written on it

Online literary magazine has officially released the results of its 13th annual Flash Fiction Contest. First place is “Thirteen Tips for Photographing Your Nephew’s Bar Mitzvah When You Still Can’t Forgive Your Brother-in-Law” by Nancy Ludmerer.

You will be able to read Nancy’s story and five additional finalists in Gemini‘s next issue due out later this month, including second place “The Tea Taster” by William Torphy.

Honorable Mentions:

  • “Where the Dandelions Grow” by Genalea Barker
  • “Rerun,” Yvonne Navarro
  • “Santa Fe,” Dawn Burns
  • “The Light of a Nearby Moon,” Heather Pfeffer

Baltimore Review – Winter 2022

The Winter 2022 issue of Baltimore Review features creative nonfiction by Lucinda Cummings, Patricia Dwyer, Dan Hodgson, and contest winner Daniel Rousseau; fiction by Ross McCleary, Evan Brooke, Nicholas Otte, Mariah Rigg, and contest winner Robin Tung; and poetry by Francine Witte, Sara Henning, Rose Auslander, Stephanie McCarley Dugger, Lisa Suhair Majaj, and contest winner Aekta Khubchandani.

Head on over to Baltimore Review‘s website to read the Winter 2022 issue.

2021 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction Winner

Congratulations to Ben Lof, winner of The Malahat Review‘s 2021 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Lof won with his piece “Naked States.”

The story begins:

In January, Frank said to April, No more alcohol. This was not a New Year’s resolution. The vermouth pancakes tasted only of vermouth.

April said, Who the heck is named “Frank” anymore? I mean, what is this, the 1960s?

Frank said, That’s the booze talking, that kind of meanness. You used to be witty.

Oh? said April. I’m still witty, pal. Got buckets and buckets of wit.

So they dropped alcohol.

Lof was also interviewed for this issue, and you can check out the interview on The Malahat Review‘s website.

2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize in Issue 60 of Ruminate.

First Place
“The Florist” by Alex Cothren

Second Place
“A Guide to Removal” by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala

Honorable Mention
“Katingo Carried 15,980 Tons and a Gentleman” by George Choundas

Finalists include Nina Gaby, Elizabeth Paley, Lauren Loftis, Skye Anicca, Catherine Miller, Alberto Daniels, and Suphil Lee Park.

Read comments on the winners from Judge Kelli Jo Ford inside the issue as an introduction to the pieces.

Robertson Prize Winners in Glass Mountain Volume 27

Glass Mountain hosts their annual Boldface Writers’ Conference. Attendees are invited to enter the Robertson Prize after revising their work. Winners of this free contest (one per genre) receive $100 and publication in Glass Mountain. This year’s winners are included in Volume 27.

Winners
“Four Yelp Reviews (After J. Bradley)” by Robin Burns
“The Masseuse” by John Cai
“An Obituary for the Ginko Berry Tree in Drexel” by Coutney DuChen

Learn more about the Boldface Conference here.

The Greensboro Review – Fall 2021

Featuring the Amon Liner Poetry Prize winner, “Pygmalion” by Megan Gower, an Editor’s Note from Terry L. Kennedy, and new work from Dan Albergotti, Talal Alyan, Ricky Aucoin, Joseph Bathanti, Ronda Piszk Broatch, Grant Clauser, Whitney Collins, Beth Dufford, Susan Grimm, Paul Guest, Julie Innis, Mary Elder Jacobsen, Justin Jannise, Julia Kenny, Mary Ann Larkin, Trapper Markelz, Joy Moore, Tomás Q. Morín, Elle Napolitano, and more. Find more contributors at The Greensboro Review website.

2021 Raymond Carver Contest Winners

The Fall 2021 issue of Carve is out now and features the winners of the Raymond Carver Contest, guest judged by Leesa Cross-Smith.

First Place
“Habits” by Morgan Nicole Green

Second Place
“The Pit” by Chris Blexrud

Third Place
“Field Dressing” by Mariah Rigg

Editors’ Choice
“What Happened With the Librarian?” by Haley Hach
“Kingdom of the Shades” by Nina Ellis

You can learn more about each story by checking out the author interviews following each piece. Print and digital issues are available at Carve‘s website.

Kenyon Review Short Nonfiction Contest Winners

Grab a copy of the November/December 2021 issue of Kenyon Review to check out the winners of the Short Nonfiction Contest.

Winner
“And We Inherit Everything” by Brigitte Leschhorn Arrocha

Runners-up
“Blue Whale Challenge” by Christian Butterfield
“Translating” by dm armstrong

The contest was judged by Roxane Gay, who writes of the winning essay, “[ . . . ] we are taken on a lyrical journey about grief, yes, but also the wounds of family and the myths of the people to whom we belong.” Grab a copy of the issue to read the winning essays, and see what Gay says about the runners-up.

2021 Rattle Poetry Prize Winners

The Winter 2021 issue of Rattle features the Rattle Poetry Prize winner and finalists.

Winner
“Encephalon” by Ann Giard-Chase

Finalists
“After My Teenager Tries to Kill Herself . . .” by Elizabeth Johnston Ambrose
“This Is How I Make My Money” by Heather Bell
“Do You Have Children?” by Susan Browne
“Follow Me” by Rayon Lennon
“Black Boys as Fireflies” by Dayna Hodge Lynch
“White Privilege Skydives with Black Guy in Appalachia” by Mary Meadows
“The Internet of Things” by Erin Murphy
“Exodus: Gilliam Coal Camp, West Virginia, 1949” by L. Renée
“Purgatorio” by Zella Rivas
“My Father Transformed by Dying” by Richard Westheimer

Subscribers to Rattle can vote for their favorite out of the finalists to determine the winner of the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award. The voting deadline is February 1.

CRAFT 2021 First Chapters Contest Winners

CRAFT 2021 First Chapters Contest

CRAFT has announced the winners of its 2021 First Chapters Contest selected by guest judge Masie Cochran of Tin House. The winning entries will be published in December, so keep an eye out!

Congratulations to the winners, finalists, and honorable mentions. You can view the full longlist and honorable mentions here.

Winners

First Place: Sam Simas, We the Liars

Second Place: Sena Moon, Familiar Strangers

Third Place: Leigh Comacho Rourks, When We Drowned

Finalists

Vanessa Banigo, The Nigerwife

Catherine Carberry, Untitled

Catherine Con Morse, The Notes

C. Quintana, The Twisted Fate of La Media Luna

Steve Sanders, The Agreed Upon Facts

Kirsten Scott, Liberty Park

Amy Stuber, In a Dark Corner Shining

JJ Tan, Angels Unaware

Allison Torgan, Red State

John Vurro, Video Planet

Taylor Werner, What Empties As It Fills

Marie Williams (Nia Forrester), Those Less Fortunate

Nimrod International Journal’s 2021 Prize Winners

Issue 43 of Nimrod International Journal is all about award winners! Check out the winners and finalists of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry.

The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction

First Prize
“White Black People” by Celine Aenlle-Rocha

Second Prize
“The Inventories” by Paula Closson Buck

Honorable Mentions
“A Dolphin in Pain” by Rachel Furey
“God Is In Your Body” by Rachel Reeher

Finalists
“Wife Of; or, What Does It Mean to Be Haunted?” by Jennifer Blackman
“The Southern Part of the State” by Teresa Milbrodt
“Thug” by Edvin Subašić

The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry

First Prize
“Spell for Patience” and other poems by Emily Rose Cole

Second Prize
“Now” by Julie Marie Wade

Honorable Mentions
“Vanishing Point” and other poems by Laura Apol
“Like a Friend” and other poems by Francesca Bell
“Everything I Love I Want to Consume” and other poems by Angela Sucich

Winners of the 2021 Adroit Prizes

Adroit Journal‘s Adroit Prizes are awarded to two undergraduate or secondary students annually. The 2021 judges were Carl Phillips and Samantha Hunt.

Winners receive $200 and publication. Runners-up and finalists also receive publication. You can read the pieces now in Issue 39 released in October.

Winners:

Stephanie Chang | Poetry | Kenyon College, ‘25
Enshia Li | Nonfiction | Stanford University, ‘22

Runners-Up:

Amal Haddad | Fiction | Swarthmore College, ‘22
Delilah Silberman | Poetry | Bennington College, ‘21

Finalists:

Aluna Brogdon | Fiction | Williams College, ‘26
Eliza Browning | Poetry | Wheaton College, ‘22
David Emeka | Fiction | The Federal University of Technology – Owerri, ‘21
Aidan Forster | Fiction | Brown University, ‘22
Jack Goodman | Poetry | Walter Payton College Preparatory School, ‘22
Sharon Lin | Poetry | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ‘21
Sofia Montrone | Fiction | Columbia University, ‘21
Jackson Neal | Poetry | University of Wisconsin – Madison, ‘23
Ngoc Pham | Poetry | Macalester College, ‘21
Kit Pyne-Jaeger | Fiction | Cornell University, ‘21
Clara Rosarius | Fiction | Oberlin College, ‘23
Kyle Wang | Poetry | Stanford University, ‘22

The Masters Review 2021 Flash Fiction Contest Winners

The Masters Review has announced the winners of its 2021 Flash Fiction Contest judged by Stuart Dybek.

In first place, we have Tanya Perkins with “Agora é Sempre” in which “a mere thousand words encompasses oceans complete with their currents, riptides, rogue waves. and rolling plastic.”

In second place, is “Play That Again” by John Glowney. “As the title suggests, an odd set of piano lessons becomes a story that is also about music and emotion, and youth, and the recognition of beauty.”

Candice May’s “How to Develop (Film)” took home third place with its use of modernistic techniques that never overwhelm the underlying story.

You can read all three pieces on The Masters Review‘s Blog.

Don’t forget, The Masters Review has two contests currently open to submissions: Novel Excerpt Contest (deadline 11/30) and the Chapbook Open for Emerging Writers (deadline 12/31).

2022 Press 53 Award for Poetry Winner

Congratulations to the winner and finalists of the Press 53 Award for Poetry.

Winner
The Italian Professor’s Wife by Ann Pedone

Finalists
We Are Children by Bill Ayres
Watts UpRise by Ron Dowell
The Bones Beneath by Sheila Smith McKoy
Splendor of Ignition by Robert Miltner
Passaic by Paula Neves
The Past Tense of Green by Alison Prine
The Ice Beneath the Earth by Brian Ascalon Roley

Tom Lombardo served as the only reader and judge for this contest, and Pedone’s manuscript was chosen from more than 380 entries. The Italian Professor’s Wife will be published by Press 53 in April 2022.

2021 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize Winner

The Fall 2021 issue of Southern Humanities Review features the winner of the 2021 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize, judged by Jericho Brown.

Winner
“Slouching like a velvet rope” by Elizabeth Aoki

Runners-Up
“Dorothy Dandridge on White Men in Hollywood” by Maurya Kerr
“I Left the Church in Search of God” by Darius Simpson

Aoki will receive $1000 and travel to Auburn, Alabama to celebrate the seventh annual poetry prize where she will read her work at an event headlined by Jericho Brown. The Fall 2021 issue is sold out in print, but you can still check out the winning poem online.

2021 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize Winners

CRAFT has announced the winners of the 2021 Short Fiction Prize judged by Kristin Valdez Quade. The winners were published this month.

First Place—Willa Zhang: “Night Air”
Second Place—Leesa Fenderson: “Ugly: A Stream of Consciousness”
Third Place—Cyn Nooney: “Just the Thing for a Day Like This”

Finalists

María Isabel Álvarez: “Happiness and Other Found Objects”
Caro Claire Burke: “Gold Rush”
Emily Cataneo: “From the Mouths of Girls, a Leviathan”
Celeste Chen: “your body is a memory in motion”
Gina L. Grandi: “Layabout”
Kathryn Holmstrom: “From Gardens where We Feel Secure”
Robert Maynor: “Always with You”
Anna Mazhirov: “An Absolute”
Amanda McLaughlin: “Cheap Trick”
Neeru Nagarajan: “Suckling”
A.J. Rodriguez: “Lenguaje”
Leigh Claire Schmidli: “Sometimes the Going”

Congratulations to the winners and finalists. Don’t forget their Flash Fiction Contest is open to entries of stories up to a 1,000 words through October 31. The guest judge is Robert Lopez.

2021 Frontier OPEN Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the 2021 Frontier OPEN. This award celebrates a single piece of poetry, and the winner receives $5,000 and publication.

Winner
“Fireworks” by Chaun Ballard

Editors describe this piece as “A wrenching performance of the political lyric, read from right to left.” Read Ballard’s poem here and check out this link for work by the OPEN finalists.

2021 Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers Winners

The winners of the 2021 Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers are in the September/October 2021 issue of Kenyon Review.

Winner
“Golden” by Daniel Zhang

Runners-up
“Dr. Freud’s Magic 8-Ball” by Blair Enright
“Ghost Town, Ohio” by Gaia Rajan

Judge Emily Nason introduces the three pieces, saying, “What I am most impressed by in Zhang, Enright, and Rajan’s poetry is their deep generosity toward their subjects. These are poets with a deep grasp on humanity and empathy.”

Get your own copy of this issue at Kenyon Review’s website.

CRAFT 2021 Short Fiction Prize Winners Announced

banner for CRAFT 2021 Short Fiction Prize winnersThe results are in! CRAFT has just announced the winner selected by judge Kirstin Valdez Quade for their 2021 Short Fiction Prize. The winners will be published online in October. The next Short Fiction Prize will kick off in Spring 2022.

Winners

First Place—Willa Zhang: “Night Air”
Second Place—Leesa Fenderson: “Ugly”
Third Place—Cyn Nooney: “Just the Thing for a Day Like This”

Finalists

María Isabel Álvarez: “Happiness and Other Found Objects”
Caro Claire Burke: “Gold Rush”
Emily Cataneo: “From the Mouths of Girls, a Leviathan”
Celeste Chen: “your body is a memory in motion”
Gina L. Grandi: “Layabout”
Kathryn Holmstrom: “From Gardens where We Feel Secure”
Robert Maynor: “Always with You”
Anna Mazhirov: “An Absolute”
Amanda McLaughlin: “Cheap Trick”
Neeru Nagarajan: “Suckling”
A.J. Rodriguez: “Lenguaje”
Leigh Claire Schmidli: “Sometimes the Going”

Longlist

Sam Asher: “Worldsick”
Stephanie Early Green: “The Meat They Feed On”
Zilla Jones: “Checkmate”
Michael Knoedler: “All You Have Is Hope”
Annie Liontas: “Revelations”
Melissa Madore: “Home Bird”
Kita Mehaffy: “The Mothers”
Ray Morrison: “Reason to Believe”
Hugh Notman: “Erosion”
Rudy Ruiz: “Mexico Beach”
Kate Ryan: “The Mighty Have Fallen”
Leah Silverman: “The Memory Of”
Bill Smoot: “Black Feathers”
Lisa Thorne: “Fling”
Clancy Tripp: “Gifted & Talented”
Victoria Windrem: “Bookmarks”
Robert Winterode: “aparicio”

Honorable Mentions

Jordi Torres Barroso: “A Little Color in It”
Lucia Bettencourt, with translation by Kim Hastings: “Chocolate Bites”
Leslie Campbell: “Motherlode”
Celeste Chen: “Tuesday, Postmortem”
Edite Cunhã: “The Truth that Is Hidden”
Sarah Gilligan: “Joanie on the Spot”
Sarah Gilmartin: “The Other Woman”
Leena Gundapaneni: “Pheromone Party”
Aleksandra Hill: “Words of Advice at the End of the World”
Will Hodginson: “Pillowtalk”
Aram Kim: “The Professor”
Diana López: “After Star Wars”
Anastasia Lugo Mendez: “Then Time”
Stephanie Mullings: “Eating Mango Whole”
Areej Quraishi: “Like the Chiffon of a Sari”
Flor Salcedo: “See, right here.”
Jasmine Sawers: “Tea with the Queen”
Roberta Silman: “Bed and Breakfast”
Pascha Sotolongo: “The Mustache”
Catherine Uroff: “You Can’t Make Me Go”
Adriana Mora Vargas: “A Pinch of Cinnamon”
Sharon Wahl: “Everything Flirts”

Ruminate Announces Inaugural Flash Prose Winners

screenshot of The Waking: Ruminate OnlineIf you didn’t know already, print literary magazine Ruminate has an online component known as The Waking. They recently held their first Flash Prose Contest with the winners being published online.

Nathan Long’s “Summer of Joy” won in the fiction category and Kianna Green’s essay “Sitting Quiet” won the nonfiction prize. Both pieces are available for your reading please on The Waking right now.

Congratulations to the winners! And don’t forget that Ruminate‘s VanderMey Nonfiction Prize is officially open to submissions through October 15 (with a 3-day grace period).

2021 Ambit Competition Winners

screenshot from Ambit's websiteThe 2021 Ambit Competition winners have been announced! The theme of this contest was METAMORPHOSIS.

Michael Salu selected “To The Cow, The Trees” by Georgina Parfitt as the winner of the Stories Competition. “Welcome Kanye!” by Luke Jackson took home second and “Oak Peg” by Edward Hofman won third place.

Honorable mentions include Joanne Hayden’s “Wingbeat”; “Metamorphosis” by Xan Nichols; “It’s Complicated” by William Macbeth; “Metamorphosis” by Amelia Sparling; “Snow” by Amanda Hodes; “I want, I want” by Sharmini Wijeyesekera; “Another Life” by Laura Plummer; “Secrets of a Stitchbird” by Jess Richards; “Made to Love Magic” by Sophie Goldsworthy; and “Re-branded: My Careworker’s Uniform” by Deborah Nash.

Michael Salu was also the judge of the Art and Illustration Competition. This marks the first time this category was featured. The inaugural winner was Lucy Gray’s “Being Blue.” Second prize went to “Metamorphosis” by Yeshé Thapa Magar and third prize went to “A Pair of Glasses, A Blue Handbag and an Elegantly Coiled Tail” by Nina Carter.

Honorable mentions include “Metamorphosis, 2020” by Neelam Bhullar; “Snake Seed” by Matthew Richardson; “Metamorphosis” by Lisa Kalloo; Hannah Millar’s “An Altered Network”; “Rebirth” by Aisling McGee; “Shapeshifter” by Susanna Burton; “Eyes of Sierra Padre” by Chris Vaughan; “Posture ay punctuate collection” by Ben Thompson; and “A Transformation, from the ‘Seventh Swan’ a forgotten folk tale by Sasha Alfille, Wormhearts” by Essy Syed.

Kim Addonizio was the judge of the Poetry Competition. She selected Laurie Ogden’s “What we are given” as the winner. Sarah Gibbons’ “Things hang well on me now I’m so beautifully sad” took home second and E. Walker’s “Deux ex Cochlea” won third.

Honorable mentions include “Girlhood” by Stephanie Powell; “Kerkyra, Corfu” by Johan Huybrechts; “Chrysalis” by Mark McGuinness; “Corot’s Berthe” by Elisabeth Murawski; “too small” by Elisabeth Murawski; “Growing a Face” by Mary Mulholland; “Hanging with Rexie” by Elisabeth Sennitt Clough; “That Kiss in Padua” by Kit Ingram; “What the River did Next” by Anne Bailey; and “Poema” by Alix Willard.

2020 CRAFT Creative Nonfiction Award Winners

craft logo on dark blue backgroundYesterday CRAFT announced the winners of their inaugural CRAFT Creative Nonfiction Award. This year’s contest was judged by Joy Castro.

Winners
“The Ties That Bind” by Tammy Delatorre
“What You Don’t Know” by Claire Fielder
“Catalogue for a Coming of Age” by Liz Harmer

Editors’ Choice Selections
“The Untimely Collaborators” by Sara Davis
“Face, Velvet, Church, Daisy, Red” by Marilyn Hope

These placing pieces can be read on CRAFT‘s website. There, you’ll also find a list of finalists, the rest of the longlist, and honorable mentions, as well as information about this year’s judge.

Able Muse 2021 Book Award Winner

screenshot of Able Muse's 2021 Book Award Contest WinnerAble Muse’s guest judge Mark Jarman has chosen Kelly Rowe’s poetry manuscript Rise Above the River as the winner of the 2021 Able Muse Book Award. Rowe wins $1,000 and publication by Able Muse Press in spring/summer 2022. View Rowe’s bio and samples from the work.

FINALISTS:

  • Gregory Emilio: Kitchen Apocrypha
  • Nicole Caruso Garcia: Oxblood

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Caitlin Cowan: Happy Everything
  • Robert W. Crawford: The Snowstorms That Remain
  • Claudia Gary: Time and Other Solvents
  • Meghan Kemp-Gee: The Animal in the Room
  • Burt Myers: This Late Hour

Stay tuned for announcements of the 2022 awards and don’t forget to get your copy of the 2020 winner, Say What You Will by Len Krisak which will officially be released in November.

River Teeth’s 2020 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize Winner

headshot of a man with a graying beard in front of a mustard yellow house

Walter M. Robinson was selected by guest judge Megan Stielstra as the winner of River Teeth‘s 2020 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. His book, What Cannot Be Undone, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in Spring 2022. Stielstra writes that Dr. Robinson’s book gave her was “the deep humanity of the people called to save our lives.” Dr. Robinson also received a cash prize of $1,000.

The 2021 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize officially opened on August 1 with a deadline of October 31. The guest judge is award-winning author Rigoberto González. The winner receives $1,000 and book publication by The University of New Mexico Press.

Runner Up
Souvenirs from Paradise by Erin Langner

Three Finalists
Afterlight by Joshua Bernstein
How to Live by Kelle Groom
Swampitude by Quitman Marshall

Five Semi-Finalists
The Mothers by Rebe Huntman
Homemaker by Jessica Johnson
From Your Friend Carey Dean by Lisa Knopp
Poisons of War by Sabrina Veroczi
The Mary Years by Julie Marie Wade

Able Muse 2021 Write Prize Winners

Able Muse has just released the announcement of their 2021 Write Prize for Poetry and Fiction winners. The submissions were judged anonymously by the Able Muse Contest Committee and the final judges, William Baer (fiction) and Jehanne Dubrow (poetry).

Photos of Amina Gautier and E. D. Watson

Amina Gautier’s “We Ask Why” wins the Write Prize for fiction. Baer said the piece is “a deeply moving story that raises serious questions about personal identity and parentage.” The winning story will be published in the Winter 2021/22 edition of Able Muse.

FICTION HONORABLE MENTION:

  • Phylis C. Dryden– “Pink Eggs and Spam”

FICTION SHORTLIST:

  • Amina Gautier – “You’ll Go”
  • Victoria Mac – “Shannon’s Hair”
  • Charlotte Pregnolato – “Moonless”
  • Alan Sincic – “The Book Of Naps”
  • Alan Sincic – “Not What You Think”
  • Rob Wright – “Between Worlds”

E. D. Watson’s “Twelfth of May” wins the Write Prize for Poetry. Dubrow states “What I so appreciate abut this poem is the wryness, its gift for evoking landscape…and the speaker’s sudden hunger in the early aftermath of trauma.” The winning poem and the finalists will be also be published in the Winter 2021/22 issue.

POETRY FINALISTS:

  • Stephen Gibson– “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen”
  • D. R. Goodman – “Wallet”
  • Leona Sevick – “My Mother’s Kitchen”

POETRY HONORABLE MENTION:

  • Paula Bonnell– “Black and White”
  • Partridge Boswell – “The Breakup”
  • Brian Brodeur – “Hard Water”
  • Leona Sevick – “Filial”
  • Natalie Staples – “She Looks Out over the Meadow”
  • Marilyn L. Taylor – “One by One”
  • Ryan Wilson – “Next Up”

Stay tuned for the 2021 Able Muse Book Award announcement.

Masters Review Winter Short Story Award Winner & Anthology X Finalists Announced

Phew, August has found The Masters Review making a lot of announcements.

First, they announced that Dean Jamieson is the winner of their Winter 2020-21 Short Story Award for New Writers. His winning story, “Straight to My Heart” can be read online. Plus, they also have an interview with Dean.

Corey Flintoff’s “Collection Of The Artist” took home second place. The story and an interview with Corey is also available.

Then they announced the ten finalists selected by guest judge Diane Cook for publication in The Masters Review Anthology X.

The Bird Rattle by Chelsy Diaz Amaya

Atlas, Bayonet, (War) Correspondence: An Abecedarian by Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt

Limbs by Megan Callahan

Do Not Duplicate by John Darcy

Resurrection by Hilary Dean

Comfort Animals by Travis Eisenbise

Persimmon by Elissa C. Huang

All That Is or Ever Was or Ever Will Be by Eliana Ramage

A String of Lapis Beads by Greg Schutz

Sugar by Francis Walsh

And finally, they have announced that Nick Almeida’s Masterplans has won their inaugural chapbook contest. The book is forthcoming in Fall 2021 and you can read the titular story right now as a preview of what’s to come.

Carve Announces 2021 Raymond Carver Contest Results

Literary magazine CARVE offers the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest annually in the spring with winners appearing in their fall issue. The contest awards $3,000 across five prizes and is open to stories written in English from around the world.

The 2021 contest was judged by Leesa Cross-Smith who chose the top three prizewinners.

First – $2000: “Habits” by Morgan Green in Abington, PA

Second – $500: “The Pit” by Chris Blexrud in New Orleans, LA

Third – $250: “Field Dressing” by Mariah Rigg in Eugene, OR

Editors’ Choice – $125: “What Happened with the Librarian?” by Haley Hach in Rhinebeck, NY

Editors’ Choice – $125: “The Kingdom of the Shades” by Nina Ellis in London, UK

Finalists

“Disappear” by Patricia King

“Eyrie Hours” by Stephanie Pushaw

“Mapping the New Hell” by Shana Hartmann

“Those People” by Melissa Gardea

“St. Felix Dance & Bowl” by Joshua Wales

Ruminate’s 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize Winner

Screenshot of Ruminates 2021 William Van Dyke Prize Winner AnnouncementRuminate has announced the winner, runner up, and honorable mention for their 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize. The final judge of the prize this year was Kelli Jo Ford whose debut novel Crooked Hallelujah made waves last year.

First Place: “The Florist” by Alex Cothren

Second Place: “A Guide to Removal” by Amber Baleser-Wardzala

Honorable Mention: “Kantingo Carried 16,980 Tons and a Gentleman” by George Choundas

These stories will be published in the Fall 2021 issue of Ruminate due out in mid-September. The issue is currently available for pre-order, so don’t forget to reserve your copy today if you aren’t a subscriber already.

2021 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize Winner and Finalists

The Spring/Summer 2021 issue of december includes the 2021 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize winner and finalists.

First Place
“Hold Tight” by John Okrent

Honorable Mention
“Disaster A/version/Re/vision” by Margaret Ray

Finalists
“Voyeurs” by Joshua Boettiger
“A List of People Who Did Not Kill Me” by Tianna Bratcher
“Tower Block Twelve” by Elena Croitoru
“Mother & Son as Oyakodon II” by Michael Frazier
“Abecedarian on Hunger” by Naomi Ling
“True Story” by Chloe Martinez
“Cicadas” by Saudamini Siegrist
“My Mother’s House” by Isabelle Walker
“Back to the Body” by Alyson Gold Weinberg
“Also Be Lost” by Kelleen Zubick

You can grab yourself a copy of this issue at december‘s website.

2021 Dogwood Literary Award Winners

The Spring 2021 issue of Dogwood features the 2021 Dogwood Literary Award Winners in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Nonfiction
“My Hundred Years of Solitude” by Marcos Villatoro

Poetry
“Ten-Foot Drop” by Maria Zoccola

Fiction
“Little Black Dress” by Roberta Gates

This year’s contest judges were Sejal Shah (nonfiction), Lauren K. Alleyne (poetry), and James Tate Hill (fiction). Visit Dogwood’s website for a celebration of each of the winners with words from the judges and bios for the winning writers.

The Malahat Review’s 2021 Open Season Awards Winners

The winners of the 2021 Open Season Awards are in the Spring 2021 issue of The Malahat Review. This year’s judges were Rebecca Salazar for poetry, Philip Huynh for fiction, and Lishai Peel for creative nonfiction.

Fiction
“Crossing” by Zilla Jones

Creative Nonfiction
“Mondegreen Girls” by Tanis MacDonald

Poetry
“Merchant Vessels” by Matthew Hollet

Check in with The Malahat Review in August when this contest opens for submissions again.

2020 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award Winners

Grab a copy of Paterson Literary Review to check out the writers who placed in the 2020 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award.

First Prize
“To My Husband, Driving into Bad Weather” by Sara Henning
“What I Wanted When I Was Twelve” by Ray Petersen

Second Prize
“Augury” by Mary Crosby
“The Truth about Cats” by Jason Craig Poole

Third Prize
“I Worry about Atatiana Jefferson’s Nephew” by Rachelle Parker

Honorable mentions and editor’s choice pieces are also included in the issue.

Poet Hunt 25 Winners

“While the contest is called the ‘Poet Hunt,’ I didn’t actually have to hunt very long for worthy poems; they arrived in batches, and it was quite a literary bounty,” Matthew Olzmann says introducing the winner and honorable mentions of Poet Hunt 25 in the Winter 2021 issue of The MacGuffin.

Winner
“No Rehearsal” by Vivian Shipley

Honorable Mentions
“Bright Spot” by Rita Schweiss
“Dogs and Ominous Weapons” by John Jeffire

Following the winning poems, readers can find a selection of poems by the guest judge of Poet Hunt 26, Indigo Moor.

2021 MAYDAY Fiction and Poetry Prize Winners

photograph of a young man and woman

On June 17, online literary magazine MAYDAY Magazine announced the results of their 2021 MAYDAY Prizes in poetry and fiction. The winners each received $1,000 and broadsides of their work will be available soon.

2021 MAYDAY Poetry Prize was judged by Jacques Rancourt. He selected “Garçon,” by A. Shaikh as the winner.

Finalists included “Southern Thundering” by Gustav Hibbett; “What My Mother Never Told Me” by Michael Meyerhofer; “During the Pandemic, I Watch Caddyshack Again & Again” by  Christina Olson; and “The Cousin’s Secret” by Lindsay Wilson.

For the 2021 MAYDAY Fiction Prize, Kali Wallace selected Haley Kennedy’s “Shapeless” as the winner.

Finalists included “Paradise” by Joshua Beggs; “The Book of Rusty” by Benjamin Drevlow; “Tia Marilena’s Rainbow Eggs” by Xenia Lane; “Lolly Pop” by Toby Lloyd; and “Valley State” by Reilly Weed. Semifinalists included “Verge” by Emma Eisler; “The Management” by Ron Heacock; “Nudists” by Jeffery Long; and “A Trip to Valpo” by Mark Williams.

MAYDAY also has a listing on NewPages, so don’t forget to swing by there, too.