The Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize is awarded to one poetry author a year, with a $2,000 prize and publication. 2014’s prize winner is Jay Nebel whose work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Narrative, Ploughshares, and Tin House, among other journals.
Neighbors, his winning collection, is a book of lyric narratives about the men and women who live and work next to us the people standing in line at the DMV or buying milk and bread at the grocery store. Jay Nebel gives voice to an America lost in the graffiti of park benches and 24-hour diner parking lots, where men attempt CPR on gorillas and beat each other in back alleys with baseball bats, as well as revere their mothers. These are poems that look through the windows at the secret lives of our neighbors, their affairs and addictions, their curses and loves.
Published by Saturnalia Books this month, Neighbors can be purchased through the University Press of New England website.
The winner of the Goldenberg Prize for Fiction, “Autobiography” by Carla Hartenberger—chosen by judge Chang-rae Lee—follows a set of Canadian conjoined twins who must wrestle with the physiology and psychology that both keep them together and wrench them apart.
Buffalo Almanack online quarterly of fiction, visual arts, and literary criticism has established the Inkslinger Award for Creative Excellence. The award is made to the best short story and art piece in each issue as selected by the editors. There are no entry fees – all submissions to Buffalo Almanack are considered. Winners currently receive $50 and publication. With the most recent issue of Buffalo Almanack, the editors have added the feature of Woodshop Talk in which the Inkslinger winners are interviewed about their published artwork and stories.
Robin McLean’s first short story collection, Reptile House, will be published May, 2015 by BOA Editions, Ltd. A finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Short Story Prize in 2011 and 2012, Reptile House is the winner of the BOA Short Fiction Prize.
First place: Christa Romanosky [pictured], of Pittsburgh, PA, wins $1500 for “Every Shape That the Moon Makes.” Her story will be published in Issue 96 of Glimmer Train Stories.
Devin Becker’s debut collection Shame | Shame investigates two types of shame: that which disgraces, and that which curbs and keeps. Set in the mundane everyday where lives maneuver around other lives, conversations are clumsy, and a co-worker is the only one without a party invite, these confessional narrative poems humorously dramatize the socially awkward moments of life.
The poems in The Belle Mar by Katie Bickham are set on a Louisiana plantation from 1811 through 2005, and speak through the imagined voices of slaves, masters, mistresses, servants, and children. Focused on events that take place in a single room within the plantation home, Belle Mar, Bickham offers an unflinching portrayal of the atrocities that form an undeniable part of Lousiana’s history. The fully rounded characters she evokes allow readers to contemplate the social forces that shaped a slave-holding society and perpetuated injustices long after abolition.
Mudfish 18 features the winner and honorable mentions of the 11th Mudfish Poetry Prize chosen by Charles Simic:
World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest
Black Lawrence Press runs their Black River Chapbook Competition biannually (submissions opening again this spring), seeking an unpublished poetry or short fiction chapbook. Winners receive publication, $500, and ten copies of their perfect-bound book. 
Pacifica Literary Review #5 includes the winning poems from their “first ever” Poetry Contest, judged by Linda Birds.
Free Verse Editions, the poetry series of Parlor Press, hosts The New Measure Poetry Prize each year, awarding a prize of $1,000 and publication to an author of an original, unpublished manuscript of poems. Chosen by Carolyn Forché as the 2013 winner, No Shape Bends the River So Long by Monica Berlin and Beth Marzoni was published this past December. 
Fiction judge Sean Bernard selected Matthew Di Paoli [pictured] of New York, NY, who wins $250 for “Sweeping Glass.” His stories have appeared in multiple journals, and he currently teaches at Monroe College.
Write the World is a new start-up writing site focused on high school writers. Founded by a group formed out of Harvard’s graduate school of Ed, Write the World is an online platform for students to publish their work, engage with peers around the world, provide and receive feedback. The site also features a great set of tools for teachers to enhance writing instruction in the classroom.
First place: Zeynep Ozakat of Istanbul, Turkey, wins $2500 for “Moving from Istanbul.” Her story will be published in Issue 96 of Glimmer Train Stories. This will be her first published story. [Photo credit: David Samuel]
The Winter 21014 issue of Adirondack Review features the winner and runner-up of their annual Fulton Prize for Short Fiction. Winner “Study of an Orange” by Theresa Duve Morales receives $400 and publication and “Embryology” by Barrett Bowlin wins $30 and publication. The issue also features some marvelous artwork by Alfredo Palmero, Oscar Varona, Federico Federici, Stephen Nelson, and Sandrine Pagnoux. All worth the click.
Issue #69 of SubTerrain: Strong Words for a Polite Nation is the result of a call for submissions on the theme of Meat – animal flesh that is eaten for food. Editor Brian Kaufman opens with his editorial “Conflicted, in Carnivore Land,” in which he writes that wading “into the thorny debate on meat consumption” was not intended. Still, he understands there may be just such perceptions with consequences: “While this issue is not intended to be a celebration of meat consumption so much as an exploration into our relationship with meat, we leave ourselves open to the flood of responses from the vegetarians and vegans – please send your letters in!”
“Vocational Rehabilitation” by Hilary Dean
The Malahat Review #189 includes winners of the 2014 Far Horizons Award for Poetry and the 2014 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize.
Poetry
Salamander #39 features the 2014 fiction prize winner judged by Jennifer Haigh: “Dimension” by Barrett Warner. Of his work, Haigh says it is a “coming-of-age tale turned inside out, the hit-and-run love story of an unlikely couple on the skids. Their ill-fated affair is sketched with marvelous economy, style , and verve. Wise, playful, startling in its insight, this is a story made of remarkable sentences laid end to end.’
The newest issue of Mid-American Review has much to celebrate. For its 35th Anniversary, Editor-in-Chief Abigail Cloud wanted to recognize the publication’s annual Fineline Competition, unique because it focuses on the short form in poetry and prose, and also because the magazine’s staff cross-read genres to choose the winners. This issue of MAR features 26 works from past Fineline winners in addition to the 2014 Fineline Competition selections: Allison Adair, Winner; Becky Hegenston, Runner-Up; Cherie Hunter Day and Nancy Hewitt, Editor’s Choices. A great issue for those looking to read winning works as well those who may want to enter future Fineline Competitions.
Ruminate Magazine Winter 2014-15 features poetry by the winners of the 2014 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize judged by Jeanne Murray Walker: First Place Emily Rose Cole; Second Place Charity Gingerich; Honorable Mention J. Scott Brownlee (whose poem “Pasture Ode” can be read here on Ruminate). Also featured are visual works in full color by the winners of the 2014 Kalos Visual Art Prize judged by Mary McCleary: First Place Hilary White, whose work is featured on the cover in addition to a portfolio within; Second Place Aaron Lee Benson; Honorable Mention Lisa Discepoli Line.
Able Muse Winter 2014 features poetry from Scott M. Miller, winner of the 2014 Write Prize for Poetry, as well as by finalists Eric Berlin, Marilyn L. Taylor, and Catherine Chandler. Winning work of the 2014 Write Prize for Fiction, J. Preston Witt, is featured as well.
The newest issue of The Antigonish Review features winning works for two of the publication’s 2014 contests:
The Winter 2014 issue of Rattle features the Rattle Poetry Prize Winner, Craig van Rooyen (“Waiting in Vain”), as well as the works of all of the finalists. A full list of the finalists and more information about the Rattle Poetry Prize can be found here.
The newest issue of Ploughshares (Winter 2014-15) features works by winners of the magazine’s Emerging Writer’s Contest along with commentary from each of the judges:
First place: Rowena Macdonald, of London, UK, wins $1500 for “My Brother Is Back.” Her story will be published in Issue 96 of Glimmer Train Stories. [Photo credit: Martin Fuller.]
The Fall 2014 issue of American Short Fiction features Scott Gloden’s “What Is Louder,” the winning entry of the American Short Fiction Contest. His same story had been awarded second place in the 
Author Laura van den Berg has been selected to receive the annual Bard Fiction Prize for 2015. The prize, established in 2001 by Bard College to encourage and support promising young fiction writers, consists of a $30,000 cash award and appointment as writer in residence for one semester. Van den Berg is receiving the prize for her book The Isle of Youth (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013). Van den Berg’s residency at Bard College will be for the spring 2015 semester, during which time she will continue her writing, meet informally with students, and give a public reading. Read what the judges had to say and more about the winner here.
Every year, Nimrod puts out a special issue dedicated to that year’s awards: The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. This fall, Nimrod honors the selections made by fiction judge Chris Abani and poetry judge W. S. Di Piero. “The winning stories and poems display a breadth of style and creativity, each one unique in its approach to its subject.”
The latest issue of 
Non-Sequitur by Khadijah Queen is the winner of the second Leslie Scalapino Award for Innovative Women Performance Writers. The award will presented, with a reading of the winning play directed by Fiona Templeton, on Monday, November 17th, 8:00pm at the New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street, New York NY 10014. 
1st place goes to John Thornton Williams [pictured] of Laramie, WY. He wins $1500 for “Darling, Keith, The Subway Girl, and Jumping Joe Henry” and his story will be published in Issue 95 of Glimmer Train Stories. This will be his first print publication. 
The latest volume of Enizagam, a literary journal edited, designed, and published by the high school students of the School of Literary Arts at Oakland School for the Arts, features the winners of their annual Literary Awards in Poetry and Fiction.
Bruce Bond, of Denton, Texas, has been named winner of the 2014 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Bond receives the thirteenth annual prize for his new manuscript, Black Anthem. In addition to a $2,000 check, the award includes hardback and paperback book publication in 2015 by the University of Tampa Press. A sampling of poems from Black Anthem will appear as a “sneak preview” in a forthcoming issue of Tampa Review, the award-winning hardback literary journal published by the University of Tampa Press. Bond’s book will be released in the fall of 2015.
The Fall/Winter 2014 issue of Ekphrasis features the winner of the 2014 Ekphrasis Prize for Poetry, winning $500 and publication. Editors Laverne and Carol Frith announce that it was selected among “a very strong field of contenders.” The winner is Joseph Stanton for his “outstanding” poem “Thomas Dewing’s 
The current issue of 
First place: Claire Luchette, of Brooklyn, NY, wins $1500 for “Full.” Her story will be published in Issue 95 of Glimmer Train Stories. [Pictured; Photo by Kate Van Brocklin]
Arc Poetry Magazine #74 features the winners of the Poem of the Year Contest. Selected from over 500 submissions, one winner receives $5000 – a daunting process even the editors recognize the “craziness” of, beginning with: How were we going to agree on what was the best poem when we sometime can’t even agree on what a poem is? How can anyone just have one “best” poem when so much of what poetry does is question the very ideas of aesthetic hierarchies and commonly agreed upon truths?
Slipstream Press‘s Annual Poetry Chapbook Contest winner for 2014 is Nicole Antonio, of Oakland, CA, for her manuscript, Another Mistake. She will receive a $1,000 prize, along with 50 copies of the publication, and all entrants in the contest will receive a copy of her chapbook as well as the upcoming issue of Slipstream (#34- Rust/Dust/Lust theme). Nicole’s book is available now from Slipstream.
FIRST PRIZE (shared)
The most recent issue of Big Fiction (No. 6) features the winners of the 2014 Knickerbocker Prize, selected by David James Poissant. Poissnat provides an introduction to the winners: Alan Sincic, first place for his novella “The Babe” and Margaret Luongo, second place for her novella “Three Portraits of Elaine Shapiro.”
First place: Michael Varga [pictured, of Norcross, GA, wins $2500 for “Chad Erupts in Strife.” His story will be published in Issue 95 of Glimmer Train Stories. This will be his first off-campus fiction in print.