The 11th Annual BrainStorm Poetry Contest pulled in 286 entries this year, and the top three pieces are published in the Spring 2013 issue of Open Minds Quarterly (honorable mentions to be published in the Fall issue). “This contest,” writes the editor, “in preliminary estimates, raised just over $600 for Open Minds Quarterly, and we thank each and every one of our entrants for your support. We thank our judges,too, for their dedication, sensitivity and wisdom in selecting the winners.

The following is a passage from the first place poem, “With My Daughter Comes Autumn” by Kristin Roedell of Lakewood, Washington:

In the front of the house the leaves
of the Japanese maple have fallen;
you rake the last of them into the drain.
The garden is full of you; snails
leave a glistening trail like the slick
feel of your head when it crowned,
the wind separates clumped grass
into smooth strands the way I braid
your hair. . .

Second place goes to Tyler Gabrysh of Victoria, British Columbia for “A Difficult Showering,” and third place goes to Sterling Haynes of West Kelowna, British Columbia for “Down…East Hastings Street – Vancouver, BC.”

The spring issue of Mid-American Review includes the winner and honorable mention for the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award as well as the winner, honorable mention, and finalists for the James Wright Poetry Award.

Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award
Winner
Woody Skinner: “Things in Slow Motion”
Honorable Mention
Robert Long Foreman: “On Brian’s Dreams of Submarines”

James Wright Poetry Award
Winner
Mark Wagenaar: “The Body Distances (Still Life with Everything in the World)”
Honorable Mention
Jennifer Luebbers: “Family History (I)”
Finalists
Jennifer Luebbers: “Patriotics”
Leslie Williams: “In the Second Half of Life”
Marie Thurmer: “Tennessee State Prison, 1977”
Sara Gelston: “One Story”

The latest Mississippi Review features the winners and finalists of the 2013 Contest:

Fiction Winner
David Armstrong: “Straw Man”

Finalists in Fiction
Emma Duffy-Comparone: “EXUMA”
Tori Malcangio: “Earthlight”

Poetry Winner
Caitlin Cowan: “Half Past”

Finalists in Poetry

Caitlin Cowan: “Cease and Desist”
Lauren Moseley: “A Fine Essence Descending”
Charles Atkinson: “Pleasure, in a Word”
Mike Schneider: “Devil’s Dream”
Audrey Walls: “Unsent Letter to a Young Photographer”
L. S. Klatt: “Amazon”
Chelsea Jennings: “Jennings On the Steps of the Seattle Asian Art Museum”
Elisabeth Murawski: “Light”
Catherine Carter: “Things To Know”
Geffrey Davis: “The Epistemology of Rosemary”
Roger Craik: “Hover Fly”
Charlotte Matthews: “Negative Capability”

River Styx #89 features the winners of the 2013 River Styx Schlafly Beer Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest. I read several of the pieces, and I think you should definitely look into reading them too:

1st Place Ben Hoffman, “Your Baby’s Mother”
2nd Place Claire Guyton, “High Water”
3rd Place Justin Herrmann, “Blue Star”

Honorable Mentions
Amanda Churchill, “What We Learned While Tending Coop”
Gary Leising, “Heart Scar”
Lee Reilly, “A Fair Exchange”

The new issue of FreeFall magazine features the winners of the 2012 Annual Prose & Poetry Contest:

POETRY
1st Place: blue and white pottery by Ulrike Narwani
2nd Place: Bioluminescent Bay by Laboni Islam
3rd Place: At 15 by dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Honourable Mention: Marguerite by Juleta Severson-Baker

PROSE
1st Place: The Scream by Chase Baird
2nd Place: Hanging Clothes by Beth Everest
3rd Place: Myths of Mutton Busting by Natalie Meisner

“Lust, Lies, & Bad Behavior: True stories of Southern Sin” is the title for the current issue of Creative Nonfiction. The issue includes the winner of the Creative Nonfiction “Southern Sin” Essay Prize, sponsored by Neil White and awarded to Harrison Scott Key for “The Wishbone.” Editor Lee Gutkind writes, “I hope that all of the essays in this special issue will intrigue and titillate you—but Key’s is also wickedly funny.”

In the back of the issue is a list of titles from submissions not published but ones that the editors couldn’t help but share. You’ll need to get the issue to delight in all of them, but here are a couple of our favorites:

“Glory, Glory Hole-elujah” (Lust)
“Yankee Hanky-Panky” (Lust)
“Dr. Sin Learns to Bake Biscuits” (Gluttony)
“Baby Jesus and a Waffle House Drunk” (Gluttony)
“All Tomatoes Are Rotten in My Book” (Wrath)
“Squirrels!” (Wrath)
“Long Mustaches and Decorated Horses” (Wrath)
“Granny’s Little Sinner” (Pride)
“Hell Has an Exit” (Pride)

The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans, hosted by The Iowa Review and made possible by a donation from the family of Jeff Sharlet (1942-69), placed $1000 into the hands of Hugh Martin, winner for his poems “Foot Patrol,” “Intravenous,” “Nocturne with IED,” “Ares,” “Winter, Kurdistan,” “The Neck in Front of You,” “Test Fire,” “The Tunnel at Red Creek,” “Memorial Day,” “Lieutenant Graves at La Bourse,” and “Operation New Dawn.” All of these poems are included in the Spring 2013 issue of The Iowa Review, as are selected poems from finalists Cole Becher, Nathan Bradley, Terry Hertzler, Brock Michael Jones, O.A. Lindsey, Philip Tate, Jonathan Travelstead, S. Brady Tucker, Lindsey Waterman, and Michael White. The magazine thanks the judge, Robert Olen Butler, and the family for donating the prize money.

Gulf Coast’s newest issue is all about issues, as cleverly illustrated on the cover with an image of a table lined with books with different titles: Scary Smells, Essay Tests, Regularity, Morning People, Control Issues, God Complex, Drug Issues, and in the middle as the tallest book, Mom Issues. “Most literary journals announce their themes in advance,” write the editors. “Here at Gulf Coast we’re partial to themes that announce themselves gradually. Such was the case with the ‘Issues’ Issue. The cover was what clinched it.”

And on top of the revealed themes in the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry sections, the issue also contains the winning pieces from the 2012 Barthelme Prizes:

Winner
Josie Sigler: “The Compartment”

Honorable Mentions
John Longo: “The Only Thing We Argue About Is Time Travel”
Emma Copley Eisenberg: “There Was”

The current issue of Sheepshead Review features an illustration of a liver on its cover. In the editor’s note, Kelsey DuQuaine explains that, “This semester’s theme reflects the process the journal goes through in choosing these pieces.” The layout editor, Jake Jenkins, brought the idea of body parts to the table. The kidney on the cover represents the way in which the staff filters the writing for selection in the magazine. Then, each section inside features a different body part: lungs for Prose (“that breathe life into the stories we tell”), a beating heart for Poetry (“symbolizes the emotion and passion”), an eye for Visual Arts, and a stomach for the special Eat Up! section.

This issue also features the two winning poems for the Rising Phoenix Award, selected by Sarah Busse and Wendy Vardaman. In the judges comments, they write, “When you ask two poets to judge a contest, you may well end up with two poems selected. In our case, this is not because we each championed one and refused to compromise, but because we agreed that the two poems featured here represent very different voices and choices. By selecting them both as winners, we can highlight their comparative strengths and more clearly demonstrate through contrast what tools we poets have at our disposal, and what decisions go int o writing a poem.” The two winners are Mitchell Sabez with “You See the Hut Yet You Ask ‘Where Shall I Go for Shelter?'” and Jake Jenkins for “Kentucky Chase.”

RHINO‘s 2013 issue features the winners of the Editors’ Prizes for 2013:

First Prize: Rodney Gomez – “Drag Racer”

Second Prize: Kristin Robertson – “Hyoid Bone”

Honorable Mention: Claudia Cortese – “Lucy tells the boy to suck”

The issue also features work from Anne Barngrover, Kathleen Boyle, Jeff Burt, Sean Howard, Liz Kay, Sophie Klahr, Gail Martin, Adam McGee, Matthew Murrey, Jeff Oaks, Rikki Santer, Sara Talpos, Sidney Thompson, Bill Yarrow, and many more. To see the full Table of Contents, please visit RHINO‘s website.

Dogwood’s twelfth volume includes the winners of their 2013 contest. Judged by Roxane Gay (fiction), Adriana P

The most recent issue of The Tusculum Review features the winners of the 2013 Fiction and Poetry Prizes. Fiction was judged by Kate Bernheimer, and poetry was judged by Nate Pritts.

Fiction
Winner
Lynn Stegner: “Rogue”
Finalists
Jessica Alexander: “Psychopathia Sexualis: A Coming of Age Story”
Judith E. Johnson: “The Horse on the Skyscraper”

Poetry
Winner
Caroline Crew: “I Am Not Against Ambience”
Finalists
Ashley Seitz Kramer: “The Better to See You My Dear”
Erin L. Miller: “Aubade”
Nate Pillman: “Physics”
Leslie Williams: “Safe in the Ground”

Read more about the contest and the winners by clicking here.

The newest issue of Five Points contains a special feature dedicated to writer James Dickey. Darren Wang contributes an interview with him, conducted in November 1996, just two months before he passed. In an introduction to the interview, Wang writes, “Even now, listening to the tape makes me cringe. A man of his stature would have been justified in sending me packing, and that’s where the generosity really showed. Time and time again, he latched on to anything in my questions which would allow him to ignore my ignorance.” The interview discusses writing of the South and the writers that had come before him.

Following the interview are reflections on James Dickey by Christopher Dickey, Ward Briggs, and Ernest Suarez. These reflections also carry photographs of Dickey at different stages of his life.

The table of contents announces that Kevin Cantwell is the winner of the Five Points James Dickey Prize for Poetry, and Cantwell contributes 3 poems to the issue.

The Spring 2013 issue of Bellevue Literary Review features the winners of the 2013 Prizes:

Goldenberg Prize for Fiction, selected by Jane Smiley
Winner: “The No-Tell Hotel” by Kathryn Trueblood
Honorable Mention: “You Will Make Several Relaxing Cuts” by Ashley Chambers
Honorable Mention: “Bus” by Joan Leegant

Burns Archive Prize for Nonfiction, selected by Mary Roach
Winner: “Dust, Light, Life” by Jacqueline Kolosov
Honorable Mention: “Omphalos” by Maura Smith

Marica and Jan Vilcek Prize for Poetry, selected by Mark Doty
Winner: “The Learn’d Astronomer on the Radio” by Laura Passin
Honorable Mention: “Reading Sexton in Phuket” by Patricia Murphy

The Winter 2012 issue of Ploughshares features the winner of the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction: Karl Taro Greenfield for his short story, “Strawberries.” The issue was guest edited by Ladette Randolph and John Skoyles. Greenfield received $1,000 from acclaimed writer and advisory editor Alice Hoffman.

In the press release, Greenfield is quoted as saying, “I start writing with an image or feeling in mind, in this case the dishes with swastikas on the bottom and the strange bar in Liege, and then start writing and see if I get anywhere. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t and very often I can’t tell which is which.”

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their January Very Short Fiction competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories with a word count not exceeding 3000. No theme restrictions. The next Very Short Fiction competition will take place in July. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Siamak Vossoughi [pictured], of San Francisco, CA, wins $1500 for “The X-250.” His story will be published in the Fall 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Elysha Chang, of New York, NY, wins $500 for “Monkey Brains.”

Third place: Sacha V. Wright, of Orem, UT, wins $300 for “With Karolina.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching: Fiction Open: March 31

First place prize has been increased to $2500 for this competition. It is held quarterly and is open to all writers. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category are running 2,000-6,000 words, but up to 20,000 are welcome. Click here for complete guidelines.

Consequence features the winner of their prize for poetry in Volume 5. Selected by the judge Fred Marchant, Michelle Bonczek won for her poem “Aria.” Here is a small section of the poem:

I am reading this to you from a stage,
from a bathtub full of mineral salt, from a canoe

lost in the Pacific like a paperclip
holding a death certificate. I am reading this from a drop

of water, a sand speck sunk
to the bottom, a little island dome.

We are on Jupiter’s smallest moon, in a poppy,
in a bean field. We are sunflowers and a herd of cows.

This is a field of vision. It grew long before me, before
you. Before I walked for the last time

to the rail of my grandfather’s bed, away
for the first time from the rail of my daughter’s crib.

You can view the rest of the poem online here, or in Volume 5. The finalists include Jared Coffin for “Hollandia,” Dawn McGuire for “After Finding a Firefighter’s Ax at the Thrift Store,” Wesley Rothman for “White Flag,” and Danielle Sellars for “Thoughts From an Army Girlfriend.” The rest of the issue includes the work of David Abrams, Andrew Barlow, Stephen Dau, Bruce Felming, Peter Balakian, Martha Collins, Lee Sharkey, Paul Wasserman, and more.

Anderbo.comhttp://anderbo.com/ announces the winner of their 2012 Poetry Prize, judged by Sidney Wade. The contest assistant was Charity Burns.

Winner
Margaux Griffith for “Apple Galette”

Honorable Mentions
Grace Marie Grafton for “Rising”
Leland James for “What God in This Forest Dwells”
Julie Stuckey for “The Student”

All of these pieces can be read online, here.

The most recent issue of The MacGuffin features the winner of the 17th National Poet Hunt: Sharron Singleton for “Like a scrap of Michigan sky.” Judge Dorianne Laux says that she was hooked after the first line, saying “already a place, already an image, a tone.” She says that, “This is a poem to hold in our hands, to sing out loud.”

The honorable mentions go to Sophia Rivkin for “Lido Island” and Kevin Griffin for “Melt,” also featured in this issue alongside Rik Barberi, Carrie Callaghan, Jorge Casuso, Barbara Crooker, Justin Daughtery, Marti Dodge, Taylor Dowd, Kathleen Founds, Deborah Kent, Kent Maynard, Billy Middleton, Rex Richards, and many more.

The Fall 2012 issue of Glass Mountain features the winners of the Robertson Prize:

Poetry Winner
Sam Coronado: “Pete”

Poetry Runner-Up
Sessa Kratz: “Issac and Abraham”

Fiction Winner
Heather Pedoto: “Imogene the Voodoo Queen”

Fiction Runner-Up
Daniel Chang: “The Slip”

The Winter 2013 issue of The Antigonish Review features the winners of the Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest and the Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest.

Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest
First Prize: Charles P. R. Tisdale
Second Prize: Kim Trainor
Third Prize: Laura Legge

Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest
First Prize: Veronica Ross
Second Prize: Fred Annesley
Third Prize: Joan M. Baril

The issue also includes work from Jocko Benoit, Dwayne Brenna, Jan Conn, Mark Corkery, Mike Donaldson, Aloys Fleischmann, Michelle Glennie, Sean Howard & Mark Silverberg, Kevin Irie, Edward Lemond, Lisa McLean, Jean McNeil, Mark Puhlman, and Reynold Stone.

Sponsored by The Van Dyke Family Charitable Foundation and judged by Mark Richard, the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize is featured in the newest issue from Ruminate. “It was a pleasure to read this year’s submissions,” writes Richard. “In one story, grief is made real in images of rain and through music. In another, a woman hopes to find healing from her childhood, trying to accept love from those who often fail her and from a God who never does. A person of faith begins to have doubts during the prolonged death of a loved one, the meaning of the suffering proving elusive. A man struggles to keep the contents of his mind from spilling out at the end of his life. Another person of faith desires to surrender unto death, but the will to survive is stronger.”

First Place
David Brendan Hopes: “Saturdays He Drove the Ford Pickup”

Second Place
Terrence Cheng: “In San Francisco”

Honorable Mention
Megan Malone: “Safekeeping”

Finalists
Daniel Casey: “RE: Sentencing”
Peter Court: “The Simple Art of Flight”
A.R. Gardner: “A Mother’s Legacy”
Lindsey Griffin: “Tenebrae”
Linda McCullough Moore: “What a Lifetime Is”
Alexandre Puttick: “The Fall”

Richards writes, “David Hopes’ ‘Saturdays He Drove the Ford Pickup’ spoke to me as a parable would, and I’m always inclined toward a parable. And on subsequent readings, it seemed a bit more layered than I originally thought. The things I first thought sentimental about the piece actually gave it ultimate poignancy.”

Passages North’s newest issue (which I must say has a great cover) features the winners of their 2012 fiction contests.

Waasmode Fiction Prize, judged by Caitlin Horrocks
Winner
“We Are Here Because of a Horse” by Karin C. Davidson

Just Desserts Short-Short Fiction Prize, judged by Roxane Gay
Winner
“After the Flood the Captain of the Hamadryas Discovers a Madonna” by Traci Brimhall

Honorable Mentions
“Girl” by Nahal Jamir
“Dirty Girl” by Rochelle Hurt

The rest of the issue features features Kristin Abraham, John Azrak, Jenny Boully, Hans Burger, Christine Caulfield, Michelle Dove, Stefani Farris, Michael Filas, Toni Graham, Karen Hays, Rochelle Hurt, Brandon David Jennings, Hiram Larew, Sally Wen Mao, Roy Mash, Brenda Miller, Jill Osier, Elena Passarello, Emma Ramey, Susan Terris, Matthew Vollmer, Allen Woodman, and many more.

Southwest Review announces the winners of The McGinnis Ritchie Award for 2012. Robert F. Ritchie was a huge supporter of the magazine. After he died in 1997, the magazine was able to give an award each year to the best works of fiction and nonfiction published in that year. Each award is worth $500.

J. F. Glubka
2012 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction
“Heat Lightning”
(Volume 97, number 4)

Jacob Newberry
2012 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction
“The Long Bright World”
(Volume 97, number 4)

Gorman Beauchamp
2012 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Nonfiction, Essay
“‘But Tiepolo is My Painter’: Twain on Art in A Tramp Abroad”
(Volume 97, number 4)

Ann Peters
2012 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Nonfiction, Essay
“The House on the Ledge”
(Volume 97, number 1)

Event‘s Winter 2013 issue features the two winners of the magazine’s 2012 Non-Fiction Contest. There were 101 entries, ten of which were selected by Event’s staff and sent (without the writer’s names attached) to Zsuzsi Gartner, the contest judge.

Winners:
Mary B. Valencia: “The Decision”
Libby Zeleke: “We Were Punk Rockers”

Gartner writes that she wasn’t surprised that all ten pieces she read were memoirs: “Although it was disappointing not to discover narrative non-fiction tha was more outward looking, it did make my job easier. Apples to apples it would be—and some crisp Ambrosias, tangy Empires, sweet Galas, and pie-worthy Granny Smiths were found in the mix. So I come not to bury the memoir, but to praise it!”

8 short-listed entries:
Paige Cooper: “The Dead in Georgetown”
Trisha Cull: “The Doctor Scott Journals
Chris Donahue: “Where Poison Gets Ya”
Katherine Fawcett: “Promo Girl”
Kirsten Madsen: “Kestrel”
Sigal Samuel: “Sadder Than You”
Emily Walker: “The Grey Goose and Wild Turkey Years”
Terence Young: “Liquor Run”

The Southeast Review‘s current issue (Volume 31, Number 1) features the winners of the 2012 contests:

World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest
judged by Robert Olen Butler

Winner:
Hal Ackerman, “Belle and Melinda”

Finalists:
Heidi Bell, “Haunted”
Stace Budzko, “Why We Will Always Love You, Vera Knightville”
Michelle Dove, “Intruders”
Sandra Jensen, “Fault Lines”
Kat Gonso, “Capture the Flag”
Rochelle Hurt, “Impossible Child”
Sam Paradise, “At The Liberty Motor Inn Motel”
Chris Tusa, “Mean Blood” and “Neighborhood Association”

SER Poetry Contest
judged by James Kimbrell

Winner:
Noel Crook, “Crows”

Finalists:
Johleen Adena, “I Will Stop Loving You When This War Ends”
Barrett Warner, “Ammo Domini”
John Lander, “A Place to Hide My Crumbs”
Emily Pulfer-Terino , “What Will Never Be” and “The Familiar”
Benjamin Goldberg, “Busted Mirror of Everything Under the Sun”
Les Gottesman, “My Twentieth Century” and “Tremble”
Mark Wagenaar, “A Gospel of Hands & Breath”

SER Narrative Nonfiction Contest
judged by Jennine Capó Crucet

Winner:
Ruth Moose, “A Key As Big As My Hand”

Finalists:
JLSchneider, “The Glass Wall”
Kelly Sundberg, “Snow. Angel. Ghost

The favorite poems from the autumn 2012 issue are selected by an anonymous selector and donor, and the poets receive a $50 award.

Favorite haiku:: Jayne Miller

dead of winter
making stock
from the bones

Favorite senryu: Dorothy McLaughlin

my ex’s date
wearing the dress
I almost bought

Favorite haibun: Harriot West

“A Brief Analysis of Contemporary Society as Seen Through My Eyes”

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their December Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly. Stories generally range from 2000-6000 words, though up to 20,000 is fine. The next Fiction Open will take place in March. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Vi Khi Nao [Pictured], Providence, RI, wins $2500 for “Herman and Margaret.” Her story will be published in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: David H. Lynn, of Gambier, OH, wins $1000 for “Divergence.” His story will be published in an upcoming issue.

Third place: Madhuri Vijay, of Bangalore, India, wins $600 for “Hill Station.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching! Short Story Award for New Writers: February 28. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5000. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category run 1500-5000 words, but can go up to 12,000. First place prize is $1500. Second/third: $500/$300. Click here for complete guidelines.

Grain hosted its 24th Annual Short Grain contest, judged by Lawrence Hill in fiction and rob mclennan in poetry. The Winter 2013 issue includes the winners along with comments from the judges. The winning fiction piece, Susan Mersereau’s “The Valley,” was selected because, according to Hill, it “leapt off the page from the first sentences, thanks to its strange, haunting, and unusual delivery.” And mclennan writes that in first place “something like being (five flights, for rafi),” speech is made out of single words, and less than. It can be that simple, that complicated.

Fiction: judged by Lawrence Hill
1st Prize, $1000 — Susan Mersereau of Vancouver, BC
2nd Prize, $750 — Madeline Sonik of Victoria, BC
3rd Prize, $500 — Alexandra Sadinoff of New York, NY

Poetry: judged by rob mclennan
1st Prize, $1000 — Sean Howard of Main-à-Dieu, NS
2nd Prize, $750 — Jordan Abel of Vancouver, BC
3rd Prize, $500 — Kate Flaherty of Toronto, ON

subTerrain‘s newest issue features the winners of the 2012 Lush Triumphant Literary Award Winners, the 10th annual contest.

Winners
Fiction: Carleigh Baker’s “Last Call”
Poetry: Susan Musgrave’s “The Goodness of This World”

Runners-Up
Fiction: M.E. Powell’s “Grid Lines”
Poetry: Ashley-Elizabeth Best’s “Erratics”

Honorable Mention
Creative Nonfiction: Natalia Buchok’s “1948”

The rest of the issue features “Zombie Sluts, Purple Cows, and the Pornography of Death,” “We Are a Rupture That Cannot Be Contained,” “Canadian Nationalism: The Tip of the Colonial Iceberg,” and more.

Booth 4 features the winners of the 2012 Poetry Prize, judged by Linda Gregg. Gregg’s awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Writer’s Award, an NEA grant, a Lannan Literary Foundation Fellowship, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and multiple Pushcart Prizes. The first place winner received $500 and publication, and the second place winner won $250 and publication.

Winners
1st Prize: “How to Make a Beginning” by Aubrey Ryan
2nd Prize: “Bearing October” by Sarah Marcus
Honorable Mention: “Travelogue” by Claire Kiefer

Finalists
“Country Road” by George Amabile
“Distance and Order” by Dylan Carpenter
“Lion in the Limo” by Doug Paul Case
“To Know a Door” by Kate Rutledge Jaffe
“Travelogue” by Claire Kiefer
“May Support Life” by Alyse Knorr
“Bearing October” by Sarah Marcus
“How to Make a Beginning” by Aubrey Ryan
“Trout” by Emily Viggiano
“Flemish Giants” by Susan Yount

Redivider starts off volume 10 with a cover designed from previous covers. Inside, the 2012 Beacon Street Prize winner is featured. The winning piece, “Mathematics for Nymphomaniacs” by Tasha Matsumoto, was selected by Michael Kimball.

Here are his comments on the piece: “‘Mathematics for Nymphomaniacs’ shows a wide-ranging imagination and an original sensibility that is so rare. I’ve never before read anything like this audacious story created out of absurd versions of those standardized tests that we all hated to take. I love that Tasha Matsumoto makes choices that I don’t expect and didn’t imagine until I read [the story]. That this story is also so full of a strange and beautiful and sad kind of implication makes it all the more amazing. I’m excited to find out what she does next.”

Also featured in this issue is writing from Kim Addonizio, Jeff Allessandrelli, Nan Becker, Rob MacDonald, Jen Hirt, Emily Kiernan, Ben McClendon, Nicole O’Connor, M. Owens, Jennifer Perrine, Anne Valente, Christopher Watkins, Wendy Xu, and Monika Zobel.

The New Quarterly‘s newest issue features the runners up of the Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award, which is sponsored by the St. Jerome’s University English Department:

Andrew Forbes: “The Rate at Which He Fell”

Kari Lund-Teigen: “Down to Here”

Susan Yong: “When Genghis Khan Was My Lover”

The rest of the issue features short fiction by Leesa Dean, H.W. Browne, Joe Davies, Amy Jones, Russell Smith, and Betsy Struthers. New Poetry is by Rafi Aaron, Katherine Edwards, Cynthia Woodman Kerkham, Tanis MacDonald, Symon Jory Stevens-Guille, Susan Telfer, and Patricia Young. There are also featured essays by Jeffery Donaldson, Warren Heiti, Zachariah Wells, and D.W. Wilson.

The Anderbo 2012 Self-Published Book Award brought in close to 100 entries. The winner is Robert Flatt of Houston, Texas for his nonfiction book Rice’s Owls. He received a $500 cash prize

Self-Published Book Award Winner
Robert Flatt of Houston, Texas, for the nonfiction book Rice’s Owls

Top Finalist Book
Vignettes & Postcards: Writings from The Evening Writing Workshop at Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, Paris, Fall 2011, Edited by Erin Byrne and Anna Pook

Two Top Memoirs
Albert Flynn DeSilver of Woodacre, California for the memoir Beamish Boy
Alan Boreham (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), Peter Jinks (Sydney, Australia), and Bob Rossiter (Pyatt, Arkansas) for the memoir
Beer in the Bilges: Sailing Adventures in the South Pacific

Three Top Novel Entries
Shari A. Brady of Vernon Hills, Illinois, for the novel Wish I could Have Said Goodbye
Laine Cunningham of Hillsborough, North Carolina, for the novel Message Stick
Shannon Hamann, of Brooklyn, New York, for the novel Brad Pitt Won’t Leave Me Alone

View the full contest results here.

This is the tenth year that Iowa Review has been giving out awards for their contest. The process has changed quite a bit since 2003. “Despite all these changes,” says Editor Lynne Nugent, “two things remain the same: the care with which entries are read and the difficulty of choosing just one winner and runner-up in each category.” The judges were Timothy Donnelly (poetry), Ron Currie Jr. (fiction), and Meghan Daum (nonfiction). The new issue, features the winners:

Poetry Winner
Emily Hunt: “Figure the Color of the Wave She Watched, “As Long as Relief,” “View from a Regular Fantasy,” “Another Time Stopped,” “Last Night of the Year We Remembered Our Desires”

Poetry Runner-Up
Aditi Machado

Fiction Winner
Kyle Minor: “The Principle of the Fragility of Good Things”

Fiction Runner-Up
Emily G. Martin

Nonfiction Winner
Bernadette Esposito: “The Principle of the Fragility of Good Things”

Nonfiction Runner-Up
Marcela Sulak

Green Mountains Review celebrated their 25th anniversary issue last spring with a retrospective poetry issue. With their winter issue, they have decided for a new look, ripping into “a new era.” The format is now a smaller design at about 6 by 7 inches, a nice size to hold in the hand.

The winter issue also includes the winning selections for the first-ever Neil Shepard Prizes in Poetry and Fiction. Poetry was judged by Todd Boss, and fiction was judged by Noy Holland. Winners received publication along with $500.

Neil Shepard Prize in Poetry
First Place: Jill Osier
Second Place: Melissa Queen
Third Place: Benjamin Aleshire

Neil Shepard Prize in Fiction
First Place: Suzanne McNear
Second Place: Don Schwartz
Third Place: Kyle Mellen

This issue also includes poetry by Denise Duhamel, Olena Kalytiak Davis, Stephanie Brown, Emilia Phillips, Julianna Baggott, Mark Halliday, James Hoch, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Norman Lock, Adrie Kusserow, Gary Soto, Sarah Messer, Barbara Murphy, Chelsea Rathburn, Chad Davidson, Dana Roeser, Brian Russell, Angela Vogel, Dana Gabrielle Russo, G. C. Waldrep, and Lindsey Alexander; an essay by Timothy Kenny; and fiction by Molly Giles, John Weir, Jason Schwartz, Tom Whalen, James Robison, A. L. Snijders (translated by Lydia Davis), and Patricia Duncker.

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their November Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will take place in February. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

1st place goes to Christopher Marnach of Chicago, IL. He wins $1500 for “Death Week at the Funeral Card Company” and his story will be published in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in March 2014. This is Christopher’s first story accepted for publication. [Photo credit: Amy Leigh Abelson.]

2nd place goes to Joseph Chavez of West Hills, CA. He wins $500 for “Stowaways” and his story will also be published in a future issue of Glimmer Train Stories, raising his prize to $700. This is also Joseph’s first story accepted for publication.

3rd place goes to Elise Winn of Woodland, CA. She wins $300 for “After Ida.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching: Very Short Fiction Award, January 31

Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and 1st place has been increased to $1500 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers, no theme restrictions, and the word count must not exceed 3000. Click here for complete guidelines.

The South Loop Review‘s newest issue features the winning essay for the 2012 contest, judged by Ander Monson. The winner is Shawn Fawson for “Belongings of.” Here’s how it starts:

“I’m the one kids come to at the airport or grocery store and say, I’m lost. Usually it starts with a tug on my skirt followed by a tiny voice going shrill, I can’t find my mommy. Those first milliseconds I freeze and think, Hey kid, do I look like I know where your mommy is? Then I say and do what anyone would. You always do. You want lost people to be found, a Daddy and Mama to be laughing, a reunion that ends happily…”

Also featured is the wining essay from the 2012 Student Essay Contest, judged by the editors. The essay is titled “Home Sweet Home Sweet Home” by Deb Durham.

Other contributors include Jodi Adams, Doyle Armbrust, Pamela Baker, Tim Bascom, Andrew Breen, Deb Durham, Tom Montgomery Fate, Geri Gale, Theo Greenblatt, Jessica McCaughey, Adriana Paramo, Marc Perlish, Jill Talbot, Thao Thai, Cameron Walker, and more.

Each year, Spittoon magazine selects a winner for each category among those writers that have been published in the magazine that year. “The editors’ decisions when choosing writing for Spittoon awards are based on a number of factors, including–but not limited to–editor consensus across and between genres; unsolicited feedback from readers; and how well the piece fits with the stated mission of the journal.”

Winners are featured on the website along with a bio. But best of all is that they receive a trophy in the mail–an authentic spittoon!

Best of 2012

Creative Nonfiction
Matthew Lykins: “Adult Situations and Language”

Poetry
Kristy Bowen: from beautiful, sinister

Fiction
Nancy Devine: “Line”

Fiction
Anne Germanacos: “Just me singing”

Congratulations to the 2012 Able Muse Contest Winners. The Write Prize was judged by Ellen Sussman (fiction) and John Drury (poetry). The Muse Book Award was judged by Mary Jo Salter.

2012 Able Muse Write Prize

Fiction Winner
Adrianne Aron: “Random Sample”

Poetry Winner
John Beaton: “Murmuration”

Second Place
Leonard Kress

Finalists
John Beaton
Bruce Berger
Thomas Carper
Susan Cohen
Stephen Harvey
Susan McLean
Richard Meyer
Jeanne Wagner
Sarah White

2012 Able Muse Book Award

Winner
Frank Osen: Virtue, Big as Sin

Finalists
Sass Brown: USA-1000
Ellen Kaufman: House Music
Carol Light: Heaven from Steam
Richard Newman: All the Wasted Beauty of the World
Stephen Scaer: Pumpkin Chucking

Open Minds Quarterly print their Fall 2012 issue with the honorable mentions of the Brainstorm Poetry Contest, which was held in early 2012. The Spring 2012 issue includes the first, second, and third place winners (D. Brian Anderson’s “To Sylvia Plath,” Donald W. Boyles “To My Father,” and Kristina Morgan’s “Excerpt from Shade“).

Honorable Mentions

Andrew Boden: “Ladybugs, Electric”

April Bulmer: “Reta”

D. Brian Anderson: “Moving Day”

Ruminate Magazine‘s winter issue features the winners of the Kalos Foundation Visual Art Prize. The juror, Bruce Herman, said he was “impressed by the consistently high quality” of all the entries. “In the end,” he says, “I had to go with a gut-level set of choices—a visceral response based upon forty years as a practitioner and professor of art. I attempted to choose the three winning artists from the different stylistic and theoretical contexts represented in the fifteen finalists.”

First Place
Laura Hennessy
(one piece from her collection is featured to the right, courtesy of laura-hennessy.squarespace.com)

Second Place
Zacheriah Kramer

Honorable Mention
James Hapke

Finalists
Jason Ackman
Stephen Mead
Susan Hart
Austin Parkhill
Sueme Jeon
Julie Quinn
Frank Krifka
Sue Gyeong Syn
Olga Lah
Crystal Wagner
Evan Mann
Derek Wagner

Writing in the issue comes from Richard Cole, Michelle Regaldo Deatrick, Joshua Robbins, Kathleen Henderson Staudt, Kait Burrier, Mary Jo Balistreri, Julie Hensley, David Oestreich, Renee Emerson, Don Thompson, Scott Cameron, Luci Shaw, Diane Scholl, Joey Locicero, Jean Tucker, Heather M. Surls, Shannon Skelton, Paul Stapleton, and Linda McCullough Moore.