creative writing competition winners

Social Impact at Penguin Random House

U.S. Creative Writing Awards

Young writers are our future, and we believe in investing in the next generation of readers and authors. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, we host our annual Creative Writing Awards, looking for writing with a strong, clear voice by high school seniors who are daring and original.

We are thrilled to announce a new Freedom of Expression Award.

Book bans are on the rise in America, driven by new laws and regulations limiting the kinds of books young people can access—and books by and/or about LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities are disproportionately targeted. Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books believe books change lives, and that everyone deserves to see themselves in a book.

We are passionate about encouraging the next generation of readers and authors and promoting diverse voices and stories. For 30 years, we have supported this mission through the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards, which in 2019 entered into an innovative new partnership with We Need Diverse Books. Through this program, we award college scholarships of up to $10,000 each to six U.S. high school seniors nationwide. In addition, honorable mentions receive “creativity kits,” which include a selection of Penguin Random House titles and writing resources. Creative Writing Award winners have gone on to become professional and award-winning authors.

This year, we are thrilled to announce that we are adding the Freedom of Expression Award to our program. This award is one of six creative writing awards given by Penguin Random House. Other categories include  the Michelle Obama Award for Memoir , the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry , the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word , and the Fiction/Drama Award. In recognition of the Creative Writing Awards previously being centered in New York City, the competition will award an additional first-place prize to the top entrant from the NYC area. Please find the full press release  here .

The 2023-24 competition launches on October 16, 2023. If you are a current high school senior who attends public school in the United States, including the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories, and are planning to attend college – either a two-year or four-year institution –you are eligible to apply in the fall of 2023.

Since 1993, this program has awarded more than $2.9 million to public high school students for original poetry, memoir/personal essay, fiction/drama, and spoken word compositions. This signature program continues to empower and celebrate hundreds of young writers each year and underscores our unwavering commitment to identifying and nurturing new literary talent.

In addition to scholarships, Penguin Random House hosts a virtual development week for the Creative Writing Awards winners each summer that includes one-on-one virtual meetings with Penguin Random House editors, networking workshops, a panel about career opportunities in publishing, and fireside chats with Penguin Random House authors. The week concludes with a virtual awards ceremony.

VIEW THE 2023 WINNERS HERE

To read a selection of the 2023 Winning entries, including a sampling of entries published in our 30 Years Anniversary Book, click here . To read a selection of previous year’s winning entries, click on the year: 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019

For more information please visit Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards (scholarsapply.org) .

Contact us at [email protected]

Applications are now closed due to 1,000 applications received on 1/2/2024. The application program will be available again in October 2024.

Our U.S. College Scholarship Award Winners

Isabella Rayner

Amanda gorman award for poetry, marvin ridge high school.

Melissa Vera

Maya angelou award for spoken word, edgewood high school, west covina, ca.

Madison Corzine

Michelle obama award for memoir, timber creek high school, fort worth, tx.

Gloria Blumenkrantz

Poetry (nyc entrant award), frank mccourt high school, new york, ny.

Fiction & Drama

West windsor plainsboro high school south, princeton junction, nj.

Sagar Gupta

Thomas jefferson hs for science and technology, alexandria, va.

West Bloomfield High School

West bloomfield, mi.

Eva Martinez

Personal essay/memoir, valley stream north high school, franklin square, ny.

Arianna Steadman

Hunter college high school.

Scripps Ranch High School

San diego, ca.

Chloe Cramutola

Absegami high school, stamford, nj.

William Mason High School

Sam Houston High School

Moss bluff, la.

Tandika Somwaru

Midwood high school, brooklyn, ny.

High Tech High Media Arts

Ivana Cortez

Personal memoir, galena park high school, galena park, texas.

Orlane Devesin

Hiram high school, hiram, georgia.

Jeffrey Liao

Livingston high school, livingston, new jersey.

Erika Whisnant

Burke middle college, morganton, north carolina.

Maya Williams

Top nyc entrant, edward r. murrow high school, brooklyn, new york.

Kiora Brooks

Topeka west high school, topeka, kansas.

Nora Carrier

Edward r murrow high school.

Siobhan Cohen

Personal essay, new york, new york.

Samantha Kirschman

Kenston high school, chagrin falls, ohio.

Katherine Sanchez

Stuyvesant high school.

Press Releases

• College of Arts & Sciences
• Graduate Division
• College of Liberal and Professional Studies

2020 Creative Writing Contest Winners

The peregrine prize from the academy of american poets awarded to the best original poetry by a graduate student, winner: julien brugeron, “failure is their orphan”.

Contest judge Laura Mullen writes:

This was not an easy choice, but, for its deft and confident codeswitching, for its easy erudition and the clear brilliance of its (original and effective) images; for its impressive exploration of a number of forms including prose poetry and the poet’s theater, for its sophisticated understanding of how music can impact mood, and its graceful movement through an extraordinary variety of tones, “Failure Is Their Orphan” emerged as the clear winner from this remarkably strong field of entries. While “Act I” is almost a Brautigan update, self-aware, amusing, and imaginative, the complicated overlay of impulses in “Act II” shows the author’s enormously impressive ability to work with and build on the complex understanding of the lyric poem which emerged at the end of the 20th century, and “Act III” dwells comfortably in a charged intimacy where boundaries between self and other, body and landscape, effectively dissolve. Surprising, engaging, and very accomplished work, promising further astonishments.

The College Alumni Society Poetry Prize Awarded to the best original poetry by an undergraduate student

Winner: wes matthews, “love song redux” and other poems.

From the opening of the first poem we know we are in the hands of a real poet, someone who understands that each line is a leap into the void — and makes us eager to take that jump. Wes Matthews’ ability to get inside the contemporary human situation from an angle that feels as right and strange as it is insightful is something very special. In these poems we see the poet using his considerable emotional intelligence on issues of love, freedom, race, class, and age — making sure we inhabit the difficulties and stay with the trouble. When this poet says, “I have lived all those lives at once / & brought them back to one / new origin,” I believe him. “Always rambling along the risk of existing, spellbound to sound,” Matthews’ poems take us places we need to go.

Second Place: Ollie Dupuy, “I Inherit the Women in My Family” and other poems

Contest judge Laura Mullen writes: 

Under-explored and urgent subject matter is handled here with prodigious skill and remarkable tenderness—in a compelling and original voice. To read Ollie Dupuy’s work is to be, suddenly, joyfully, intimate with brilliance, stunned and enlightened by writing which deftly opens the complicated heart and explores the impact of immigration over generations. Courageous, compassionate, and clear-eyed, Dupuy is writing poems which are likely to find a large and grateful audience. This is the work of a skilled and gifted poet, someone who — I am sure — we will be reading with attention and delight for decades to come.

Third Place: Cynthia Zhou, “After Seven Years” and other poems

Exquisitely attentive to the sound of language and the feeling of being in the world (or worlds, for the author’s subject includes the “heartland’s / space station”), this generous selection of powerful and genuine poems make the action of remembering feel, again, like embodied, risky, and terribly important work. At ease in a variety of forms, grounding ecstatic visions in solid details (sketched with a fine economy), and showing — unfailingly — a wisdom about what must be said and when, the poems of Cynthia Zhou “coax mercy” from encounters with places and people, and are a great gift to her audience.

Honorable mention: Erin O’Malley, “Scoliotic Sestina…” and other poems

Lovely sense of the line, wonderfully vivid images, a nice array of forms, fresh subject matter handled with exciting skill: these poems will haunt me! This “Honorable Mention” fourth place is invented to convey my admiration: what an extraordinary writer!

About the judge:

Laura Mullen is the author of eight books and the McElveen Professor of English at LSU. Recognitions for her poetry include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Rona Jaffe Award. Recent poems have appeared in  The Bennington Review ,  Ritual and Capital , and  Bettering American Poetry . In 2018 she was the Arons poet at Tulane and affiliate faculty at Stetson University’s MFA of the Americas. Her translation of Veronique Pittolo’s  Hero  was published by Black Square Editions in 2019. She had a Headlands Center Residency for Spring 2020—now she’s sheltering in place.

The Phi Kappa Sigma Fiction Prize Awarded to the best original short story by an undergraduate student

Winner: daniel finkel, “eat him by his own light”.

Contest judge Tony Tulathimutte writes:

If you’d told me last week, “Dude, you have got to read this 100% earnest story written from the perspective of a deer,” I would have answered No, and then Why are we talking about this. But Daniel Finkel has pulled off a major stylistic flex here, equally psychedelic and believable, selling us on an entire reality; I mean look at these descriptions: “the citrus-fire smell of the acid” when an antler punctures a car battery (“even death is made better by antlers”), or pain that is “astonishing, cyclopean” when our narrator gets shot midway through. This story is like Bambi from the perspective of Bambi’s mother, a gorgeously vivid story about the unkillable dignity of the animal in a world of human trash. Deer story best story! Deer story times one thousand!

Second Place: Elizabeth Lemieux, “X”

This is a legit dark story about Grace, an eerily deadpan content moderator for the unnamed social media site “X.” If we expect Grace to be traumatized by her exposure to ultraviolence, we get quite the opposite — she seems to get a kick out of it, but it’s never totally clear why. She’s the kind of person who Google-stalks internet creeps and turns down dates because “I liked to keep my evenings free, for eating and smoking and true crime documentaries.” Sort of like the whole deal with The Stranger’s Meursault, the controlled ambiguity of Grace’s motives forms the story’s core mystery; the wonderfully ironic ending turns a banal #MeToo moment inside out, as we’re left to wonder just how much she’s internalized of the limitless horror she presides over daily.

Third Place: William Miller, “Necrolog”

A 13-year-old, trapped in Bulgaria with his sick grandfather when both his parents die, finds escape in the surreal world of VR chat, where he watches toads get baptized, volunteers for public execution, and gets catfished by a catboy. When the grandfather, too, dies, leaving the narrator alone in a foreign country with nobody to care for him, the fluid phantasmagoria of the virtual world seems to hemorrhage into the real: lilac moths swarm out of bathwater, an unexplained “necrolog” appears across the street. What does it all mean? IDK! But it’s well-written and creepy-fun, what more do you want?

Honorable Mentions: Caroline Curran, Lucca Cary, Adina Singer

Tony Tulathimutte ’s novel  Private Citizens  was called “the first great millennial novel” by  New York Magazine . A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has written for  The New York Times , VICE , WIRED , The New Yorker , N+1 , The New Republic , and others. He has received a 2017 Whiting Award and an O. Henry Award. He runs a writing class in Brooklyn called CRIT (crit.works).

The Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing Awarded to a graduate or undergraduate student for the best script (stage, screen, television, or radio)

Winner: alishan valiani, “the parking ticket”.

Contest judge Aya Ogawa writes:

A heart-rending story of a destitute rickshaw driver in Pakistan whose familial obligations and financial debts drive him to commit suicide — except after his first failed attempt, he is recruited to be a suicide bomber. This ambitious screenplay with surprising and intricate turns weaves together a personal narrative with the political and moral to portray a complex web of the powers that exert control over one man’s life.

Second Place: Nicole Novo, “Gibberish”

Contest judge Aya Ogawa writes: 

Well-constructed script about a young man who struggles to and then suddenly finds approval and respect from his conservative Christian family and community when, after a slight injury, he begins to speak in tongues. The story is told tightly and builds tension, as well as empathy and depth for its characters.

Third Place (tie): Mary Osunlana, “The Perfect Woman”

The bittersweet story of a young woman who discovers her late mother’s legacy is not as flawless as it seemed.

Third Place (tie): Samantha Friskey, “All the Dead Frogs”

Friskey presents a jagged, passionate and urgent piece that delves into the profound question of how humankind must reconcile itself with mass extinction and the end of the world.

Aya Ogawa is a Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based playwright, director, performer and translator whose work reflects an international viewpoint and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity and the immigrant experience. They have written and directed many plays including oph3lia (HERE) and Ludic Proxy (The Play Company). Most recently they wrote, directed and performed in The Nosebleed  (Under the Radar Festival) and directed Haruna Lee’s Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi). They are currently a resident playwright at New Dramatists, a Usual Suspect at NYTW, and a recent Artist-in-Residence at BAX. ayaogawa.com.

The Lilian and Benjamin Levy Award Awarded to the best review by an undergraduate student of a current play, film, music release, book, or performance

Winner: wes matthews, “soul music as the soundtrack to love”.

Contest judge Laura Miller writes: 

First-person material can be a crutch for young critics, but this piece balances that against a broader social perspective and binds the two elements together with just the right amount of lyricism. It’s heartfelt without presuming that the writer’s heart is all the reader needs to care about. I learned from this piece, as well, which is something all good criticism should aspire to do.

Second Place: Samuel Yellowhorse Kesler, “Mitski is at Her Peak Performing Central Park”

Contest judge Laura Miller writes:

I have nothing but respect for anyone who writes well about music, and the way this piece conveys the fleeting experience of a live performance makes it even more impressive to me. Sometimes all you really need to do is tell your reader what it felt like to encounter a work. This is vivid but not florid, and made me feel as if I’d been there, too.

Third Place: Sara Merican, “Before Parasite, There was Burning, Re-viewing Lee Chang-dong’s Film”

The critic has clearly observed the work with great care and thought about it deeply. Some criticism is a performance, a display of writing, but this represents something else: an intense, fruitful engagement with the work that the critic shares with her readers.

Laura Miller is books and culture columnist for Slate . She is a co-founder of Salon.com, where she worked for 20 years. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker , Harper’s , the Guardian and the New York Times Book Review , where she wrote the “Last Word.” She is the author of The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia (Little, Brown, 2008) and editor of The Salon.com Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Authors (Penguin, 2000).

The Ezra Pound Prize for Literary Translation Awarded to the best English-language translation of verse or prose from any language by a graduate or undergraduate student

Winner: samantha friskey, translation of “little lessons in eroticism” by gioconda belli (spanish).

Contest judge Lindsay Turner writes: 

This poem strains and sweats, sings the female body in the language of the seas and the stars, caressing and holding back and caressing again. The slight whimsical humor of its title — “little lessons” — belies the power of this poem, carried over into English in Friskey’s translation, as it works its poetic imperative to open up a world of pleasure.

Second Place: Zhiqiao (Kate) Jiang, translation of “Diary” by Haizi (海子) (Chinese)

Haizi’s “Diary” echoes with the grief of distances, deserts, and desolations. In Jiang’s translation, the simplicity of its declarations and the intricacy of its repetitions — “Sister, tonight I have only the Gobi Desert” — make the poem haunt like a ghost voice long after a first reading. 

Third Place: Anika Prakash, translation of three poems by Antonio Machado (Spanish)

Prakash’s translations of these three poems by Antonio Machado convey a lonely, longing poetic presence whose gaze lingers over the surrounding world so lightly as to be almost not there. These poems avoid sentimentality even as they evoke a realm of love and loss communicated in dark and lovely images of light and air, village-scapes and the natural world.

Lindsay Turner is the author of Songs & Ballads (Prelude Books, 2018). Her translations from the French include adagio ma non troppo  by Ryoko Sekiguchi (Les Figues Press, 2018) and The Next Loves  by Stéphane Bouquet (Nightboat Books), as well as several books of contemporary philosophy. She is the recipient of a 2017 French Voices Grant for her translation of Stéphane Bouquet’s Common Life , forthcoming from Nightboat in 2022. She is currently Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Denver.

The Gibson Peacock Prize for Creative Nonfiction Awarded to the best creative nonfiction piece by an undergraduate student

Winner: sophia durose, untitled.

Contest judge Sophie Lewis writes: 

“For a brief period of time,” writes DuRose in the perfectly poised, unobtrusively shocking opening to this memoir of a violent alcoholic, “I thought water could spoil, because every time I asked my father for a sip of his water, it stung my tongue as if I were swallowing pins.” Part of what makes DuRose’s untitled piece so compelling is its refusal both to justify and to sugarcoat its profound forgiveness of the abuse it so vividly chronicles. It conveys the author’s aporia with regard to this lamentable, “soggy-hearted” figure, the late Doug DuRose, with courageous intelligence and upsetting skill.

Second Place: Javier Peraza, “Candles for Lucas”

The reader of this piece is hooked by the intriguing fact of an outsize nocturnal repeat-shipment of votive candles to the author’s house following a death. We then move with disconcerting smoothness through a handful of vignettes from a (roughly) five-year period in the life of a nuclear household featuring three sons, at least one of whom is driven out of the house by the drunken physical assaults perpetrated on them, and on their mother, by the father. Peraza, throughout, demonstrates solidarity with their brother but resists tying things up in a bow, landing more than one good joke. The narration is pitched perfectly, puncturing (for instance) the bubble of a cheap candle-related metaphor for the ‘lesson learned,’ immediately after it has been proposed. There is wisdom here.

Third Place:  Samuel Kesler, “Look at the Lamps”

Contest judge Sophie Lewis writes:

In this short, deft meditation on the art of watching bad movies, Samuel Kesler puts across a critique of critique, and an argument about interpretation, almost imperceptibly, by means of personal anecdote. The reader is borne along on Kesler’s charmingly unpretentious and candid recollections on the subject of watching Seasons 1 through 5 of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (1988-1993) and what the experience has brought to Kesler’s life. Then the thesis statement drops in the final paragraph, with a citation from none other than John Waters.

Honorable Mention: Samantha Claypoole, “Danse Macabre”

Sophie Lewis is a nonfiction writer based in Philadelphia, a visiting scholar at the Alice Paul Center, and the author of  Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family  (Verso, 2019). Her essays and articles of queer cultural criticism have appeared in, for example,  The New York Times ,  Boston Review ,  The London Review of Books  and  Viewpoint  magazines, as well as academic journals such as  Signs , Feminist Review , Feminist Theory , and  Science as Culture . Sophie also occasionally translates books and essays from German and French into English: for example,  A Brief History of Feminism  (Antje Schrupp),  Communism for Kids  (Bini Adamczak), and  The Future of Difference: Beyond the Toxic Entanglement of Racism, Sexism and Feminism  (Paula Villa and Sabine Hark). A graduate of the University of Oxford (BA English Literature; MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Policy) and the New School for Social Research (MA Politics), she earned her PhD (2016) in human geography at the University of Manchester. She is a member of the writing collective Out of the Woods, whose book  Hope Against Hope: Writings on Ecological Crisis  is forthcoming (Common Notions 2020), and an editor at  Blind Field: A Journal of Cultural Inquiry .

The Parker Prize for Journalistic Writing Awarded to the best newspaper or magazine article, feature story, exposé or other piece of investigative journalism (published or unpublished) by an undergraduate student 

Winner: rowana miller, “the ghosts of locust”.

Contest judge Daisy Hernández writes: 

Miller wove together with great style the results of her reporting and research while also creating a fantastic sense of place. This piece is delightful and informative and made me want to be on campus.

Second Place: Madeline Ngo, “Kay Granger, only GOP woman from Texas in Congress, keeps low profile but has plenty of influence” 

Ngo’s portrait is a poignant reminder of the times in which we live and the decisions elected officials make every day. I appreciated the number of perspectives Ngo sought and the way she seamlessly brought it all together on the page.

Third Place: Lauren Drake, Untitled

This is an incredibly necessary story about Tourette Syndrome. It covers not only the author’s experience but those of other students, as well as a neurologist, and it raises urgent questions about work and disability. 

Daisy Hernández is the author of the award-winning memoir  A Cup of Water Under My Bed  and coeditor of  Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism . The former editor of  ColorLines  magazine, she has reported for  The Atlantic,   The New York Times , and Slate , and she has written for NPR’ s All Things Considered and CodeSwitch . Her essays and fiction have appeared in  Aster(ix) ,  Bellingham Review ,  Brevity ,  Dogwood ,  Fourth Genre ,  Gulf Coast ,  Juked , and The   Rumpus  among other journals. A contributing editor for the Buddhist magazine  Tricycle , Daisy is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at Miami University in Ohio.  

The Creative Writing Honors Thesis Prize Awarded to the most outstanding honors thesis Winners:

Briar Essex for “transcripts: Or, a provisionary poetics”; advisor: Jeff T. Johnson

Caroline Curran for “Ultraviolet Line”; advisor: Karen Rile

About the award: Our judges have decided that each of these three projects articulates such a distinct sense of craft, form, method, and linguistic vitality that they will share this year's thesis prize. Each is a writing project that exceeds the boundaries of the undergraduate honors thesis program, that struck the panel as coherent and complete in its execution, and that shows maturity of vision and command of craft. Congratulations, Briar and Caroline!

🎉 Our next novel writing master class starts in – ! Claim your spot →

Weekly Writing Contests

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337 contest entries / 135 stories

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186 contest entries / 84 stories

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314 contest entries / 123 stories

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348 contest entries / 133 stories

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#233: dry january.

237 contest entries / 79 stories

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#232: polar night & northern lights.

282 contest entries / 106 stories

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280 contest entries / 112 stories

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174 contest entries / 67 stories

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#228: yummy.

235 contest entries / 89 stories

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#227: snowed under.

305 contest entries / 131 stories

🏆 Won by Warren Keen

Leaderboard 🥇

#1 Zilla Babbitt

32370 points

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28730 points

#3 Abigail Airuedomwinya

22421 points

#4 Graham Kinross

14530 points

#5 Scout Tahoe

13198 points

#6 Chris Campbell

11323 points

#7 Thom With An H

10618 points

#8 Rayhan Hidayat

10213 points

#9 Michał Przywara

9937 points

#10 Deborah Mercer

9610 points

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March/April 2022 - Recent Winners

American Literary Translators Association Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize  Archana Venkatesan of West Sacramento, California, won the 2021 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize for her translation from the Tamil of Nammalvar’s epic poem Endless Song (India Penguin). She received $6,000. Jeffrey Angles, Maithreyi Karnoor, and Rajiv Mohabir judged. The annual award is given for a book of poetry or a text from Zen Buddhism translated from an Asian language into English and published in the previous year. ( See Deadlines .) Italian Prose in Translation Award Stephen Twilley of Chicago won the 2021 Italian Prose in Translation Award for his translation from the Italian and French of Curzio Malaparte’s work of literary nonfiction Diary of a Foreigner in Paris (New York Review Books Classics). He received $5,000. Stiliana Milkova, Minna Zallman Proctor, and Will Schutt judged. The annual award is given for a book of fiction or nonfiction translated from Italian into English and published in the previous year. ( See Deadlines .) National Translation Awards Geoffrey Brock of Fayetteville, Arkansas, won the 2021 National Translation Award in Poetry for his translation from the Italian of Giuseppe Ungaretti’s poetry collection Allegria (Archipelago Books). Sinan Antoon, Layla Benitez-James, and Sibelan Forrester judged. Tejaswini Niranjana of Ahmedabad, India, won the 2021 National Translation Award in Prose for her translation from the Kannada of Jayant Kaikini’s short story collection No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories (Catapult). Jennifer Croft, Anton Hur, and Annie Janusch judged. Brock and Niranjana each received $2,500. The annual awards are given for a book of poetry and a book of prose translated from any language into English and published in the previous year. ( See Deadlines .) American Literary Translators Association, University of Arizona, Esquire Building #205, 1230 North Park Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721. Rachael Daum, Communications and Awards Manager. [email protected] literarytranslators.org/awards

Anhinga Press Anhinga Prize for Poetry Craig Beaven of Tallahassee, Florida, won the 2021 Anhinga Prize for Poetry for Teaching the Baby to Say I Love You . He received $2,000, and his book will be published by Anhinga Press in September. Ellen Bass judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. The next deadline is May 31. Anhinga Press, Anhinga Prize for Poetry, P.O. Box 3665, Tallahassee, FL 32315. Kristine Snodgrass, Contact. [email protected] anhingapress.org

Arts & Letters Arts & Letters Prizes L. A. Johnson of Santa Monica, California, won the Arts & Letters Rumi Prize for Poetry for “Where Warm and Cool Air Meet,” “Downriver,” “Radiant Stranger,” and “House Full of Someones.” Karen Day of Newton, Massachusetts, won the Arts & Letters Prize for Fiction for “The Cellar.” Lee Anne Gallaway-Mitchell of Tucson won the Susan Atefat Prize for Creative Nonfiction for “The Tax of Quick Alarm.” They each received $1,000, and their winning works were published in the Fall 2021 issue of Arts & Letters . Romeo Oriogun judged in poetry, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma judged in fiction, and Kristi Coulter judged in creative nonfiction. The annual awards are given for a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. ( See Deadlines .) Arts & Letters , Arts & Letters Prizes, Georgia College, Campus Box 89, Milledgeville, GA 31061. (478) 445-1289. Laura Newbern, Editor. artsandletters.gcsu.edu

Ashland Poetry Press Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize Margaret Mackinnon of Richmond won the 2021 Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize for Afternoon in Cartago . She received $1,000, publication by Ashland Poetry Press, and 25 author copies. Maggie Anderson judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. ( See Deadlines .) Ashland Poetry Press, Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize, Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, OH 44805. (419) 289-5789. Deborah Fleming, Director. [email protected] ashlandpoetrypress.com

Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest Melanie Tafejian of Raleigh, North Carolina, won the 2021 International Poetry Contest for “For Years I Was Afraid to Go Home.” She received a prize of $1,000 and publication in the Fall 2021 issue of Atlanta Review. Katie Farris judged. The annual award is given for a single poem. ( See Deadlines .) Atlanta Review , International Poetry Contest, 686 Cherry Street NW, Suite 333, Atlanta, GA 30332. Karen Head, Editor. atlantareview.com/guidelines/international-poetry-contest

Autumn House Press Literary Prizes Sara R. Burnett of Silver Spring, Maryland, won the 19th annual Autumn House Poetry Prize for her poetry collection, Seed Celestial . Wendy Wimmer of Green Bay, Wisconsin, won the 14th annual fiction prize for her short story collection, Entry Level . Emily Pifer of Syracuse, New York, and Laramie, Wyoming, won the tenth annual nonfiction prize for her memoir, The Running Body . They each received $1,000, publication by Autumn House Press in the fall, and a $1,500 travel grant for promotion of their published books. Eileen Myles judged in poetry, Deesha Philyaw judged in fiction, and Steve Almond judged in creative nonfiction. The annual awards are given for a poetry collection, a short story collection or novel, and a book of creative nonfiction. The next deadline is May 31. Autumn House Press, Literary Prizes, 5530 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. autumnhouse.org

Bard College Bard Fiction Prize Lindsey Drager of Salt Lake City won the 2022 Bard Fiction Prize for her novel The Archive of Alternate Endings (Dzanc Books, 2019). She received $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College. The annual award is given to an emerging U.S. writer under the age of 40. The next deadline is June 15. Bard College, Bard Fiction Prize, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. (845) 758-7087. [email protected] bard.edu/bfp

Beloit Poetry Journal Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry Taylor Byas of Cincinnati won the 2021 Adrienne Rich Award for “Tell It Like a Movie | Rewind.” She received $1,500 and publication in Beloit Poetry Journal . Natasha Trethewey judged. The annual award, which is supported by the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust, is given for a single poem. ( See Deadlines .) Beloit Poetry Journal , Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry, P.O. Box 1450, Windham, ME 04062. Rachel Contreni Flynn and Kirun Kapur, Editors. [email protected] bpj.org

Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize Raena Shirali of Philadelphia won the 2021 Hudson Prize for her poetry collection summonings . She received $1,000, and her book will be published by Black Lawrence Press. The editors judged. The annual award is given for a collection of poetry or short stories. ( See Deadlines .) Black Lawrence Press, Hudson Prize, 279 Claremont Avenue, Mt. Vernon, NY 10552. [email protected] blacklawrencepress.com

Carve Raymond Carver Short Story Contest Morgan Green of Abington, Pennsylvania, won the 2021 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest for “Habits.” She received $2,000, and her story was published in the Fall 2021 issue of Carve . Leesa Cross-Smith judged. The annual award is given for a short story. ( See Deadlines .) Prose and Poetry Contest Ryan Little of Sacramento, California, Mona’a Malik of St. John, Canada, and Alisha Acquaye of Monticello, New York, won the 2020 Prose & Poetry Contest. Little won in poetry for “How Do I Set Your Absence Somewhere?”; Malik won in fiction for “The Girl With Precise Interests”; and Acquaye won in nonfiction for “Fruit Snack Fairytale.” They each received $1,000 and their work was published in the Spring 2021 issue of Carve . Roy G. Guzmán judged in poetry, Shruti Swamy judged in fiction, and Kendra Allen judged in nonfiction. The annual awards are given for a poem, a short story, and an essay. The next deadline is November 15. Carve , P.O. Box 701510, Dallas, TX 75370. Anna Zumbahlen, Editor in Chief. [email protected] carvezine.com/home

Centenary College of Louisiana John William Corrington Award Ruth Ozeki of Northampton, Massachusetts, won the 31st annual John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence. Ozeki, whose most recent book is the novel The Book of Form and Emptiness (Viking, 2021), received $5,000. The annual award is given to recognize a career of dedication to literary excellence. There is no application process. Centenary College of Louisiana, John William Corrington Award, English Department, 2911 Centenary Boulevard, Shreveport, LA 71104. (318) 869-5083. Jeanne Hamming, Coordinator. centenary.edu/academics/departments-schools/english/corrington-award

Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Kirstin Valdez Quade of Princeton, New Jersey, won the 2021 First Novel Prize for The Five Wounds (Norton). She received $15,000. The finalists were Priyanka Champaneri of Fairfax, Virginia, for The City of Good Death (Restless Books), Linda Rui Feng of Toronto for Swimming Back to Trout River (Simon & Schuster), Honorée Fanonne Jeffers of Norman, Oklahoma, for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois (Harper), Violet Kupersmith of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, for Build Your House Around My Body (Random House), Patricia Lockwood of Savannah for No One Is Talking About This (Riverhead Books), and Jackie Polzin of St. Paul for Brood (Doubleday). They each received $1,000. Alexander Chee, Susan Choi, Yaa Gyasi, Raven Leilani, and Dinaw Mengestu judged. The annual award is given for a debut novel published in the United States during the previous year. As of this writing, the next deadline has not been set. Center for Fiction, First Novel Prize, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217. (212) 755-6710. [email protected] centerforfiction.org/grants-awards/the-first-novel-prize

Conduit Books & Ephemera Minds on Fire Open Book Prize David Keplinger of Washington, D.C., won the 2020 Minds on Fire Open Book Prize for The World to Come . He received $1,500, and his book was published by Conduit Books & Ephemera in April 2021. The editors judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. The next deadline is October 31.  Conduit Books & Ephemera, Minds on Fire Open Book Prize, 788 Osceola Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105. William Waltz, Editor. conduit.org

Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation Book Prize Eric Nguyen of Washington, D.C., won the ninth annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize for Things We Lost to the Water (Knopf). He received $5,000. Ron Rash judged. The annual award is given for a debut novel set in the American South. ( See Deadlines .) Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation, Book Prize, 110 Cedar Pond Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27517. (919) 942-3713. Anna Hayes, President. [email protected] crookscornerbookprize.com

Elixir Press Antivenom Poetry Award Derek Graf of New York City won the 2021 Antivenom Poetry Award for Green Burial . He received $1,000, and his book will be published by Elixir Press. Kirun Kapur judged. The annual award is given for a first or second poetry collection. ( See Deadlines .) Elixir Press, Antivenom Poetry Award, P.O. Box 27029, Denver, CO 80227. [email protected] elixirpress.com

Finishing Line Press New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition K. E. Ogden of Studio City, California, won the 2021 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition for What the Body Already Knows . She received $1,500, and her chapbook will be published by Finishing Line Press. Leah Huete de Maines judged. The annual award is given for a poetry chapbook written by a poet who identifies as a woman and who has not yet published a full-length collection. The next deadline is June 30. Finishing Line Press, New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition, P.O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324. Christen Kincaid, Director. [email protected] finishinglinepress.com/awards

Florida Review Editors’ Awards Morgan English of Brattleboro, Vermont, won the 2021 Editors’ Award in poetry for “Your Bitter Girl.” Austyn Wohlers of South Bend, Indiana, won the award in fiction for “The Archivist.” Lee Anne Gallaway-Mitchell of Tucson won the award in nonfiction for “Good Lands of Mercy.” They each received $1,000, and their winning works will be published in Florida Review . The editors judged. The annual awards are given for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. ( See Deadlines .) Florida Review , Editors’ Awards, University of Central Florida, English Department, P.O. Box 161346, Orlando, FL 32816. Jake Wolff, Editor. [email protected] floridareview.cah.ucf.edu

Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry Monica Rico of Ann Arbor, Michigan, won the 2021 Levis Prize in Poetry for Pinion . She received $1,000 and publication by Four Way Books. She will also be invited to participate in Four Way Books readings, either virtually or in-person in New York City, as public health guidelines allow. Kaveh Akbar judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. ( See Deadlines .) Four Way Books, Levis Prize in Poetry, P.O. Box 535, Village Station, New York, NY 10014. (212) 334-5430. [email protected] fourwaybooks.com/site

Gemini Magazine Short Story Contest Kathleen Spivack of Watertown, Massachusetts, won the 2021 Short Story Contest for “Moths.” She received $1,000, and her story was published in the December 2021 issue of Gemini Magazine . The editors judged. The annual award is given for a short story. ( See Deadlines .) Gemini Magazine , Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 1485, Onset, MA 02558. (339) 309-9757. David Bright, Editor. [email protected] gemini-magazine.com

Georgia Review Loraine Williams Poetry Prize Mathew Weitman of New York City won the ninth annual Loraine Williams Poetry Prize for “The Death of a Tree.” He received $1,500, publication in the Winter 2021 issue of Georgia Review , and an all-expenses paid trip to Athens, Georgia, to give a public reading with the 2021 contest judge, Arthur Sze. The annual award is given for a single poem. ( See Deadlines .) Georgia Review , Loraine Williams Poetry Prize, University of Georgia, 706A Main Library, 320 South Jackson Street, Athens, GA 30602. thegeorgiareview.com/the-loraine-williams-poetry-prize

Georgia Writers John Lewis Writing Grants Jae Nichelle , Ra’Niqua Lee , and George Chidi , all of Atlanta, received the inaugural John Lewis Writing Grants. Nichelle won in poetry, Lee won in fiction, and Chidi won in nonfiction. They each received $500, a scholarship to attend the 2022 Red Clay Writers Virtual Conference in November, and an invitation to present a writing project at a future Georgia Writers virtual program. Jessica Lindberg judged in poetry, Ann Hite and John Holman judged in fiction, and Wanda Lloyd judged in nonfiction. The annual awards are given in poetry and prose to “elevate, encourage, and inspire the voices of Black writers in Georgia.” The next deadline is October 1. Georgia Writers, John Lewis Writing Grants, 440 Bartow Avenue, MD 2701, Kennesaw, GA 30144. (470) 578-4736. Terri Dudenhoeffer, Program Coordinator. [email protected] georgiawriters.org/john-lewis-writing-award

Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award Robin Riopelle of Ottawa, Canada, won the Fall 2021 Supernatural Fiction Award for “The Resurrectionist.” She received $1,500, and her story was published on the Ghost Story website and will also appear in volume 3 of the anthology 21st Century Ghost Stories . Lesley Bannatyne judged. The award is given twice yearly for a short story with a supernatural or magic realism theme. ( See Deadlines .) Ghost Story , Supernatural Fiction Award, P.O. Box 601, Union, ME 04862. Paul Guernsey, Editor. theghoststory.com/tgs-fiction-award

Grayson Books Poetry Award Richard Cole of Austin, Texas, won the 2021 Grayson Books Poetry Award for Song of the Middle Manager . He received $1,000, and his book will be published by Grayson Books. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. The next deadline is August 15. Grayson Books, Poetry Award, P.O. Box 270549, West Hartford, CT 06127. graysonbooks.com/contest.html

Hidden River Arts Eludia Award Carol Roh Spaulding of Granger, Iowa, won the 2021 Eludia Award for her novel, Helen Button . She will receive $1,000, and her novel will be published by Sowilo Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing. The editors judged. The annual award is given for a debut novel or story collection by a woman writer over the age of 40. The next deadline is March 15.  Sandy Run Novella Award Susan Fox of New York City won the 2021 Sandy Run Novella Award for The Names of the Dead . She will receive $1,000, and her novella will be published by Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing. The editors judged. The biennial award is given for a novella. The next deadline is September 30, 2023. Hidden River Arts, P.O. Box 63927, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Debra Leigh Scott, Founding Executive Director. [email protected] hiddenriverartssubmissions.submittable.com/submit

Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Awards Rachel Eliza Griffiths of New York City won the 2021 Legacy Award in poetry for her collection Seeing the Body (Norton). Percival Everett of South Pasadena, California, won the 2021 Legacy Award in fiction for his novel Telephone (Graywolf Press). Rita Woods of Homer Glen, Illinois, won the 2021 Legacy Award in debut fiction for her novel, Remembrance (Forge Books). Marcia Chatelain of Washington, D.C., won the 2021 Legacy Award in nonfiction for her historical book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (Liveright). Chanda Feldman, Donika Kelly, and Asiya Wadud judged in poetry; Clyde W. Ford, Kim McLarin, and Dinaw Mengestu judged in fiction; David Anthony Durham, Amina Gautier, and Donna Hemans judged in debut fiction; and Brittney Cooper, C.J. Farley, and Ron Stodghill judged in nonfiction. The annual awards are given for books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by Black writers published in the previous year. As of this writing, the next deadline has not been set. Hurston/Wright Foundation, Legacy Awards, 10 G Street NE, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20002. (202) 248-5051. [email protected] hurstonwright.org

Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize K.L. Anderson of Seattle won the 2021 Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize for her novel, But First You Need a Plan . She will receive $1,000, and her book will be published in September 2022 by Leapfrog Press in the United States and by Can of Worms Enterprises in the United Kingdom. Ann Hood and the Leapfrog Press editors judged. The annual award is given for a short story collection, a novella, or a novel. ( See Deadlines .) Leapfrog Press, Global Fiction Prize, P.O. Box 1293, Dunkirk, NY 14048. Rebecca Cuthbert, Managing Editor. [email protected] leapfrogpress.com/the-leapfrog-global-fiction-prize-contest

Los Angeles Review Literary Awards Nellie Le Beau of Oceania won the 2021 Los Angeles Review Poetry Award for “out in it”; Marilyn Abildskov of Moraga, California, won the Short Fiction Award for “Catalog”; Leanne Dunic of the unceded and occupied traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people won the Flash Fiction Award for “Eight Arms to Hold You”; and Lauren Foley of North County Dublin, Ireland, won the Creative Nonfiction Award for “Mammy Mary Says.” They each received $1,000, and their works will be published in Los Angeles Review . Francesca Bell judged in poetry, Reema Rajbanshi judged in fiction, Lara Ehrlich judged in flash fiction, and Beth Gilstrap judged in nonfiction. The annual awards are given for works of poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. The next deadline is June 30. Los Angeles Review , Literary Awards, P.O. Box 40820, Pasadena, CA 91114. (626) 356-4760. Shelby Wallace, Production Editor. [email protected] losangelesreview.org

Milkweed Editions Max Ritvo Poetry Prize Ryann Stevenson of Oakland won the 2021 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize for Human Resources . She received $10,000 and her book will be published by Milkweed Editions in June 2022. Henri Cole judged. The annual award is given for a debut poetry collection. The next deadline is May 31. Milkweed Editions, Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Open Book Building, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55415. (612) 215-2540. Bailey Hutchinson, Associate Editor. [email protected] milkweed.org/max-ritvo-poetry-prize

Munster Literature Center Seán O’Faoláin International Short Story Competition Shelley Hastings of London won the 2021 Seán O’Faoláin International Short Story Competition for “Am I Helping?” She received €2,000 (approximately $2,259), a weeklong residency at Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat, publication of her story in Southword , and a featured reading at the virtual 2021 Cork International Short Story Festival. Simon Van Booy judged. The annual award is given for a short story. The next deadline is July 31. Munster Literature Center, Seán O’Faoláin International Short Story Competition, Frank O’Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, T12 X802 Ireland. [email protected] munsterlit.ie

Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Contest Kevin Neal of Cincinnati won the 13th annual Narrative Poetry Contest for “Let the Bones Guide You.” He received $1,000 and publication in the Winter/Spring 2022 issue of Naugatuck River Review . Destiny O. Birdsong judged. The annual award is given for a narrative poem. The next deadline is September 1. Naugatuck River Review , Narrative Poetry Contest, P.O. Box 368, Westfield, MA 01085. Lori Desrosiers, Publisher. [email protected] naugatuckriverreview.com

Omnidawn Publishing Poetry Chapbook Contest Pattie McCarthy of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, won the 2021 Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook Contest for Extraordinary Tides . She will receive $1,000, publication of her chapbook by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies. Rae Armantrout judged. The annual award is given for a poetry chapbook. The next deadline is June 13. Single Poem Broadside Poetry Contest No‘u Revilla of Waikiki, Hawai’i, won the 2021 Single Poem Broadside Poetry Prize for “iwi hilo means thigh bone means core of one’s being.” She received $1,000, publication in OmniVerse , and 50 author copies of her poem published as a letterpress broadside by Omnidawn Publishing. Thylias Moss judged. The annual award is given for a single poem. ( See Deadlines .) Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Prize Clyde Derrick of Claremont, California, won the 2020 Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Prize for The Ghost Trio . He received $1,000, and his chapbook will be published by Omnidawn Publishing in fall 2022. He will also receive 100 author copies. Molly Gloss judged. The annual award is given for a novelette, short story, or collection of stories. As of this writing, the next deadline has not been set. Omnidawn Publishing, 1632 Elm Avenue, Richmond, CA 94805. (510) 237-5472. Ken Keegan and Rusty Morrison, Coeditors. [email protected] omnidawn.com/contest

Orison Books Prizes in Poetry and Fiction Stephanie Adams-Santos of Hillsboro, Oregon, won the 2021 Orison Poetry Prize for her poetry collection Dream of Xibalba . Kevin Honold of Santa Fe, New Mexico, won the 2021 Orison Fiction Prize for his novel The Lady of Good Voyage . They each received $1,500, and their books will be published by Orison Books in 2022. Jericho Brown judged in poetry and Debra Spark judged in fiction. The annual awards are given for a poetry collection and a story collection or novel. ( See Deadlines .) Orison Books, Prizes in Poetry and Fiction, P.O. Box 8385, Asheville, NC 28814. Luke Hankins, Editor. [email protected] orisonbooks.com John C. Zacharis First Book Award Jamil Jan Kochai of West Sacramento, California, won the 31st annual John C. Zacharis First Book Award for his novel, 99 Nights in Logar (Viking, 2019). He received $1,500. Ladette Randolph judged. The annual award is given in alternating years for a first poetry collection or first book of fiction by a writer whose work has been published in Ploughshares . The next deadline is June 30. Emerging Writer’s Contest Margaret Wright of New York City won the 2021 Emerging Writer’s Contest in poetry for “Accidents.” Meghan E. O’Toole of Chicago won the 2021 Emerging Writer’s Contest in fiction for “Good Food for Starving Things.” Madeline Vosch of Austin, Texas, won the 2021 Emerging Writer’s Contest in nonfiction for “Undead.” They each received $2,000, publication of their work in the Winter 2021–2022 issue of Ploughshares , and a consultation with literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Paige Lewis judged in poetry, Kiley Reid judged in fiction, and Paul Lisicky judged in nonfiction. The annual awards are given for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. ( See Deadlines .) Ploughshares , Emerson College, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116. (617) 824-3757. Ellen Duffer, Managing Editor. [email protected] pshares.org

Poetry Foundation Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships Five poets each received a $25,800 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. They are Bryan Byrdlong of Los Angeles, Steven Espada Dawson of Austin, Texas, Noor Hindi of Detroit, Natasha Rao of New York City, and Simon Shieh of Washington, D.C. A committee of Poetry magazine contributors and Poetry Foundation staff judged. The annual awards are given to poets between the ages of 21 and 31 to support their continued study and writing of poetry. ( See Deadlines .) Poetry Foundation, Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, 61 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60654. [email protected] poetryfoundation.org/foundation/prizes-fellowship

Press 53 Award for Poetry Ann Pedone of Millbrae, California, won the 2022 Press 53 Award for Poetry for The Italian Professor’s Wife . She will receive $1,000, publication by Press 53, and 50 author copies. Tom Lombardo judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. The next deadline is July 31. Press 53, Award for Poetry, 560 North Trade Street, Suite 103, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. (336) 770-5353. Kevin Morgan Watson, Publisher. press53.com/award-for-poetry

Red Hen Press Nonfiction Award Adriana Páramo of Qatar won the 2021 Nonfiction Award for Keeping Quiet: Sixteen Essays on Silence . She received $1,000, and her book will be published by Red Hen Press in 2023. Deborah Thompson judged. The award will not be offered going forward. Red Hen Press, Nonfiction Award, P.O. Box 40820, Pasadena, CA 91114. (626) 406-1203. Shelby Wallace, Production Editor. [email protected] redhen.org

Sonora Review Annual Contests Omer Friedlander of New York City won the 2020 Fiction Prize for “Scheherazade and Radio Station 97.2 FM.” Rebecca Makkai judged. Sofia Sears of Philadelphia won the 2020 Nonfiction Prize for “Anatomy of a Girl-Poet.” Rae Paris judged. They each received $1,000 and publication in Sonora Review . The annual awards are given for a short story and an essay on a theme. ( See Deadlines .) Sonora Review , Annual Contests, University of Arizona, English Department, P.O. Box 210067, Modern Languages Building 445, Tucson, AZ 85721. sonorareview.com

Talking Gourds Fischer Prize Ja’net Danielo of Long Beach, California, won the 24th annual Fischer Prize for “We Thank the Veteran for His Service.” She received $1,000, publication of her poem on the Talking Gourds website, and an invitation to read for the Bardic Trails series, a virtual gathering of the Talking Gourds Poetry Club. Donald Levering judged. The annual award is given for a poem. The next deadline is August 30. Talking Gourds, Fischer Prize, P.O. Box 1770, 216 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride, CO 81435. Art Goodtimes and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Codirectors. tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds

Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm Frost Farm Prize Nicholas Friedman of Syracuse, New York, and Michael Lavers of Provo, Utah, both won the 11th Annual Frost Farm Prize. Friedman won for his poem “Storylines” and Lavers won for his poem “The Counterweight.” They each received a $1,000 prize, an invitation to read at the Frost Farm, and a scholarship to attend the 2021 Frost Farm Poetry Conference at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire. Aaron Poochigian judged. The annual award is given for a poem written in metrical verse. ( See Deadlines .) Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm, Frost Farm Prize, c/o Robert Crawford, 280 Candia Road, Chester, NH 03036. frostfarmpoetry.org/prize

White Pine Press Poetry Prize Richard Tillinghast of Papaikou, Hawai’i, and Sewanee, Tennessee, won the 27th annual Poetry Prize for Blue If Only I Could Tell You . He received $1,000, and his book will be published by White Pine Press in fall 2022. Joe Wilkins judged. The annual award is given for a poetry collection. The next deadline is November 30. White Pine Press, Poetry Prize, P.O. Box 236, Buffalo, NY 14201. whitepine.org

Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grants Rebecca Clarren of Portland, Oregon; Ashley D. Farmer of Austin, Texas; Kevin González of San Juan and Pittsburgh; Sangamithra Iyer of New York City; Catherine Venable Moore of Ansted, West Virginia; Nina Siegal of Amsterdam; Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham , both of Oakland, and Lorelei Lee won 2021 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants. Each writer or team of writers received $40,000. The annual awards are given to writers in the process of completing a book of nonfiction. ( See Deadlines .) Whiting Foundation, Creative Nonfiction Grants, 291 Broadway, Suite 1901, New York, NY 10007. (718) 701-5962. [email protected] whiting.org/writers/creative-nonfiction-grant/about

Willow Springs Books Spokane Prize for Short Fiction Elsa Nekola of Madison, Wisconsin, won the 2020 Spokane Prize for Sustainable Living . She received $2,000, and her book was published by Willow Springs Books in December 2021. Valerie Martin judged. The annual award is given for a short story collection. The next deadline is June 15. Willow Springs Books, Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, c/o Inland Northwest Center for Writers, 601 East Riverside Ave, CAT 400 Room 442, Spokane, WA 99202. willowspringsbooks.org

Winning Writers Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest Tamako Takamatsu of Tokyo and Megan Falley of Longmont, Colorado, won the 29th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest. Takamatsu won in fiction for “The Pastures of My Eccentric Uncle” and Falley won in nonfiction for “The Act of Vanishing.” They each received $3,000, two-year gift certificates for membership to the literary database Duotrope, and publication on the Winning Writers website. Denne Michele Norris judged. The annual awards are given for a short story and an essay. ( See Deadlines .) Winning Writers, Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest, 351 Pleasant Street Suite B PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Adam Cohen, President. [email protected] winningwriters.com/our-contests

Creative Writing at PENN STATE

2024 Writing Contest Winners

Graduate awards:, aap/steinberg poetry.

Winner: “Evidence of our Existence” by Aliyah Rios Runner up: “Coming together as if tethered” by Claire Williams

Toby Thompson Prize—NONFICTION

“A Letter to Korea” by Dana Lynch  

Toby Thompson Prize—FICTION                                             

“The Chemist” by Julianna Herriott

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS:

All winners are from University Park, unless otherwise noted: * Erie–The Behrend College **World Campus

JUDGES FOR 2024 WRITING CONTESTS:

Undergraduate creative writing awards:.

• Camille-Yvette Welsch (Cranage)
• Lee Peterson (Lehman & Mihelcic)
• Tim Loperfido (Nichols)
• Julianna Baggott (Lehman)

Nonfiction:

• Sh eila Squillante (Nichols)
• Sascha Skucek (Lehman)

Graduate Creative Writing Awards:

Toby Thompson Prizes:

• Nonfiction: Christine Hume
• Fiction: Ken McCullou gh

AAP/Steinberg Poetry Prize — Kelle Groome

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Home  >  Past Winning Entries

Past Winning Entries

Please enjoy the winning entries from our past contests. They are presented here in the order we added them to our website. To view winning entries by contest and year, please see our Contest Archives .

Ma’am I’m Sorry to Tell You Your Son is D—

By Darius Simpson

Honorable Mention, Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2023

By Shereen Leanne

By Mary Chi-Whi Kim

By Lee Desrosiers

By Ja’net Danielo

By F.J. Bergmann

Fishhook / Anchor

By Spencer Chang

Aubade with Lobotomized Mountain

By Maya Salameh

Death Sestina

By Clif Mason

Oil Painting as a Form of Lying

By Maia Elsner

By Kizziah Burton

First Prize, Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2023

Sestina for My Daughter

By Mikaela Hagen

Who Is Jo March?

By Lin Haire-Sargeant

Honorable Mention, North Street Book Prize 2023

When Mom Feels Great, Then We Do Too!

By Phyllis Schwartz

The Low Country Shvitz

By Rick Lupert

The Evil Inclination

By Daniel Victor

Grand Prize, North Street Book Prize 2023

The Angel Room

By Lee Call

Peregrination

By Ned Gannon

Only What’s Imagined

By Geof Hewitt

First Prize, North Street Book Prize 2023

Nature’s Geometry: Succulents

By Russel Ray

Love Like a Dog

By Anne Calcagno

Hidden Depths

By J.H. Mann

By Irene Cooper

Flowers by Night

By Lucy May Lennox

Elephant and Bird

By Sally Hinkley

Blackwax Boulevard Is Listening

By Dmitri Jackson

Black on Madison Avenue

By Mark S. Robinson

Caras Lindas de Colombia/Beautiful Faces of Colombia

By Michael Bracey and Ruth Goring

Badge of Honor

By Karen Glinski

Aunty Jane Knits Up a Storm

By Steve Wolfson

A Daughter’s Kaddish

By Sarah Birnbach

The Five Pillars of Intimacy Direction

By Munroe Shearer

Honorable Mention, Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 2023

By Sandi Sonnenfeld

Dancing on the Blade

By Janine Kovac

Undetermined Circumstances

By D.T. Lumpkin

By Jen Knox

It Bleeds Without Stopping (The Heart)

By Jules Dubel

Never Fired a Shot

By Mark Cecil Stevens

By Leslie Schwartz

Sunny Sixteen

By Blake Z. Rong

By G.H. Plaag

Reflections

By Jennifer Tubbs

First Prize, Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 2023

By Billie Kelpin

the time i brought a pie to a gun fight

By Ashlen Renner

Honorable Mention, Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest 2023

Ode to a Stamp

By Riley McNutt

Helicopter Tiddies

By C. E. Janecek

We Named Her Karma

By Mark Jackett

Shakespeare Writes Clickbait

By Rob Holtom

By Patrick Heneghan

pov: you’re a cater waiter at the metaverse conference

By Stella-Ann Harris

Page 1 of 28 pages   1   2   3   >    Last ›

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Creative Writing Competition

Dymocks Beyond Words is Back for 2024!

Having had such a successful 2023 we are back with more categories and the biggest prize pool to date with over $20,000 in prizes to be given!

So get ready to start writing! Entries open on the 1st of March  and close on the 31st of May.   Winners will be announced at the Awards Night on 11 October 2024 in Parramatta, NSW.

Last year’s long listed writers are linked below – be sure to read the entries for some inspiration.

Submit Your Entry

31 may 2024.

Submission Deadline

11 October 2024

Winner Announcement

High School Prize Pool

Shortlist (8 awarded), primary school prize pool.

Special Category Prizes

Primary & highschool, regional australia winner, greater western sydney winner, eal/d winner, first nations winner, long list prizes.

All 100 Longlisted Entrants will receive a Prize Pack thanks to Milligram containing stationary and accessories worth over $50

All longlisted students will also be entered into the 2024 Dymocks Beyond Words Longlist Book!

Milligram Prize Pack!

COMPETITION DETAILS

All primary and secondary school students across Australia are able to enter!

Your story must be between 500 and 1500 words.

Entries over the word limit will be disqualified.

The competition is open theme . 

This means that your story can be about anything you want. It can also be written in any genre.

Entries open March 1st 2024 and close May 31st 2024.

Your entry must be submitted within these dates or you will not be able to enter.

Unfortunately not. As this is a short story competition, all entries must be written in prose, not verse. Poetry might be used as an element of the story, but the majority of the story must be written in prose. Entries written entirely in verse will be disqualified.

No – every entrant may only submit one story. If you submit multiple entries, the most recently submitted entry will be accepted and all others will be disqualified.

Stories are being judged on two key things:

CRAFT: Is your story well written and descriptive? Have you shown a strong command of language, structure, and vocabulary? Is it clear that you understand what key elements go into making a good story?

IDEA: How original and unique is your idea? Has your story got something interesting to share? Does it affect the reader emotionally? Does your story grab the reader and make them want to read more?

We encourage all students to enter the competition! We are judging based on ideas and passion for storytelling just as heavily as on technical craft and command of language.

No – you must submit a new story this year. All longlisted entries will be cross-checked against last year’s entry pool to ensure that they are new submissions.

• To enter the REGIONAL prize your home address must not be within a location classified as MM1 (major cities) in the Modified Monash Model. You can search locations at the Department of Health.
• To enter the GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY PRIZE your home address must be within the Greater Western Sydney region as defined by the NSW Department of Planning Metropolitan Strategy. 
• To enter the EAL/D prize you must speak English as an additional language or dialect; it should not be your first language. You may be interviewed to discuss what winning this prize means to you.
• To enter the FIRST NATIONS prize you must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student and be accepted by your First Nations community as a member of that community. You may be interviewed to discuss what winning this prize means to you.
• To enter the LGBTQIA+ prize you must identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Please be aware that if you win this category your full name will be displayed publicly as prizewinner on the website. You may also be interviewed to discuss what winning this prize means to you.

A longlist will be announced in August 2024 and winners will be announced in October 2024 at a prize ceremony held in Sydney.

JUDGING PANEL

Overall Prize: Will Kostakis

Will Kostakis is an award-winning author for young adults. He’s been at it fifteen years, but his mum insists it’s just a phase and any day now, he’ll pursue a real career. He signed his first book deal in high school. Loathing Lola was released when he was just nineteen. His contemporary novels, The First Third and The Sidekicks , warmed (then broke) hearts the world over. His first foray into fantasy, the Monuments duology, saw teenagers accidentally killing gods hidden under different Aussie high schools, absorbing their powers, and wrestling with what it means to be gods. We Could Be Something is his latest novel. It’s a humorous yet heart-rending look at family, fame and falling in love.

Shortlist: Josephine Sarvaas

Josephine is a trained teacher qualified in English, history and TESOL, who graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours. She has been working in private tutoring since 2014 and has nine years’ experience teaching students from kindergarten up to the HSC. She is passionate about helping all students gain confidence in their learning, and believes English is a subject area where all students can be empowered to develop their self-expression. Josephine is also a short story writer whose work has been published in magazines and anthologies. She won first place in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Competition and The Academy of Teachers’ ‘Stories Out of School’ Competition, and was runner up in the 2022 Best Australian Yarn, Australia’s biggest short story contest. Her work has been long-listed for the Grindstone International Novel Prize and the Mslexia Novel Competition.

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2023 duke english creative writing contest and scholarship winners, april 21, 2023.

Duke English is excited to announce our 2023 Creative Writing Contest and Scholarship awardees. Congratulations to the following students:   

Camden Chin ’26 for “Value of a Dollar” and “Harold” Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction. Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry. 

Emma Huang ’25 for “Equivalence”  Reynolds Price Award for Fiction. The Reynolds Price Fiction Award was established in memory of the distinguished novelist, essayist, poet, and public intellectual Reynolds Price, a graduate of Duke and professor in the English Department for over 50 years. 

Maggie Wolfe ’24 first prize for “The Rise and Fall” Nima Babajani-Feremi ’24 second prize co-winner for “After Rebirth”  Haoning Jiang ’23 second prize co-winner for “That Time I Pirated a Pixar Movie and Cried Like a Baby” George P. Lucaci Award for Creative NonFiction . This award was created to encourage creative nonfiction writing and honor George P. Lucaci, a former Duke student who has actively supported undergraduate creative writing in the English Department for many years.

Tyler King ’25 first prize for “Texan Gospel” Laura Boyle ’24  (Honorable Mention)  for “Zoo of Self”  Academy of American Poets Prize. Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization advocating for American poets and poetry.  Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and foster contemporary poetry appreciation. 

Dylan Haston ’23  co-winner for “The Will She Had: Grail Quest” Lauren Garbett ’23 co-winner for “bright futures, brighter pasts” Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry. Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry. 

Tina Xia ’23 co-winner for “Love for Sale Marina Chen ’24 co-winner for “/&&*” (“stick and poke”)  Terry Welby Tyler, Jr. Award for Poetry. This award was established by the family of Terry Welby Tyler, Jr., who would have graduated with the class of 1997 to recognize and honor outstanding undergraduate poetry.  

Edgar Salas ’23  William M. Blackburn Scholarship . Created in 1962 by students and friends of Professor William Blackburn (1899-1969), who established the creative writing initiative at Duke, this scholarship recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of creative writing. 

Mina Jang ’23  Francis Pemberton Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to a junior or senior pursuing creative writing studies. It was created by the Trustees of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation in memory and honor of Francis Pemberton's service to the Biddle Foundation. 

Miranda Gershoni ’23   Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship. Given annually to a female student who demonstrates a particular promise in creative writing, this scholarship was established to recognize the untiring efforts of Margaret Rose Knight Sanford on behalf of Duke University.

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In-Depth Stories

Meet Our 2023 Creative Writing Award Winners!

The five $10,000 scholarship winners,  received direct access to publishing professionals through a series of virtual events designed and hosted by the PRH Corporate Communications Team. We checked in our 2023 CWA winners, Gloria Blumenkrantz , Madison Corzine , Isabella Rayner , Melissa Vera and Karen Yang , to hear about their feelings on their pieces, their awards, and their hopes for the future.

NYC Entrant: Gloria Blumenkrantz, Frank McCourt High School, New York, NY,  Global History 2: 10/26/2020

Gloria Blumenkrantz

What does representation in publishing mean to you?

I grew up a voracious reader, unable to get my hands off of books that told stories of kids who lived completely different lives from mine. Until recently, I was convinced that learning about new cultures and perspectives is what drew me into reading. I now see that what I really crave is that connection with the characters because of other things we had in common: similar anxieties, experiences, desires, dreams.

What does winning a Creative Writing Award mean to you?

To me, winning a Creative Writing Award means that someone looked at what I thought only mattered to me and said, “yeah, that’s awesome”. It means no matter how much I doubt myself and my writing, there is always a chance someone might connect with it (even if it’s just my family). It means that maybe this writing for fun thing can be a little more than just a hobby. And it means that paying for my college education is going to be a little bit easier on me and my family.

Michelle Obama Award for Memoir: Madison Corzine, Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, TX, What I Wish I Knew: A Suburban Black Girl’s Guide

Madison Corzine

This award is confirmation that I should continue to write about my experiences and give voice to feelings and thoughts that connect with people. I want to shed light on experiences not spoken about to ensure that young girls like me don’t feel alienated in the awkward stages of adolescence.

Tell us about your piece.

My piece is an ode to young black girls living in environments like mine, who feel continually unseen, unheard, and unappreciated. I wrote this piece imagining a situation where I could speak to a younger version of myself. Through literature, I want to be the big sister or mentor I wish I had. My piece provides guidance and confirmation that you have the power to create your character in the game of life.

Amanda Gorman   Award for Poetry: Isabella Rayner, Marvin Ridge High School, Waxhaw, NC,  Cafecito para dos, sin leche

Isabella Rayner

To me, representation is about creating stories that people of diverse backgrounds can see, feel, and deeply connect with. It’s seeing bits of yourself and those you love in the stories around you. Without good representation, it is easy for many marginalized people to think of themselves as invisible. Our stories and experiences become estranged from the typicality of literature, framed as something abnormal. Representation is a necessary aspect of storytelling that goes beyond just books—it’s a reflection of real life and real people.

Winning the Creative Writing Award helped to prove to myself that I am capable of being an author. Self-criticism is something that I struggle with regarding my writing, no matter how hard I work or how much I improve. Having this moment of acknowledgment made me think that the art I make is worthy of being viewed by others. I’m realizing that I can do what I love, and I can do it well.

Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word: Melissa Vera, Edgewood High School, West Covina, CA;  America

Melissa Vera

Ever since I was younger, I have loved to read, whether it was fiction or nonfiction, really anything I could get my hands on. I had always imagined myself on the back of those books, my name on the spine proudly displaying it as my work, but I never believed I would achieve that. I did not have the connections that others had, nor the means of publishing anything myself. I wrote poems in my journal but even from a young age, I thought that it was important to be what I thought was ‘realistic’.

Winning this award has changed my point of view, I no longer believe that my dream is unachievable and this has renewed a new sense of confidence within myself. I am going to minor in creative writing and continue writing, with the goal of publishing my work to a large audience one day. I want to inspire the same love for writing and literature that was sparked in me when I was young.

Fiction & Drama: Karen Yang, West Windsor Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, NJ,  Chicken Feet

What does representation in publishing mean to you? 

I think it means everything. I’ve been inspired heavily by reading works by diverse authors, people who have shared their beautifully nuanced experiences. I think that diverse writing is crucial to understanding oneself — it is so important to see yourself on the page, going through similar obstacles and learning to grow from those experiences. Writing reflects human experience and emotions and we are all so diverse; it is only right that our books are.

Do you know what you’d like to do for your career?

I’ve loved history and writing for all my life—my dream for the longest time has been to run the Met one day but I’m also interested in museum studies, education, economics and maybe becoming a lawyer!

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2024 creative writing prize winners.

Please join the Department of English and Creative Writing in congratulating the 2024 Creative Writing Prize winners!

Andrea Cohen at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Professor Matthew Olzmann at Creative Writing Prizes Reading. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Ulla-Brit Libre reading at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Sanjana Raj reading at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Ethan Gearey reading at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Maeve Kenney reading at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Zhenia Dubrova at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Anne Rhee at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Jessica Yang at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

Judge Andrea Cohen at 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony. Photo by Alberto Paniagua

The 2024 Creative Writing Prizes Ceremony was held on Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. in Sanborn Library, and included readings from the prize winners and this year's judge, Andrea Cohen .

Andrea Cohen's poems and stories have appeared in  The New Yorker, Poetry, The Threepenny Review ,  The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Glimmer Train ,  etc. A new book of poems,  The Sorrow Apartments,  is forthcoming from Four Way Books. Other collections include  Everything  (Four Way, 2021),  Nightshade  (Four Way, 2019).  Unfathoming ( Four Way, 2017),     Furs Not Mine  (Four Way, 2015),  Kentucky Derby  (Salmon Poetry, 2011),  Long Division (Salmon Poetry, 2009) , and  The Cartographer's Vacation  (Owl Creek Press, 1999). Awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship,  Glimmer Train's  Short Fiction Award, and several fellowships at MacDowell. Over the years, she has taught at The University of Iowa, Emerson College, UMASS-Boston, Boston University, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and Merrimack College, where she was the founding director of the Writers' House. She directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge, MA, and will be teaching at Boston University in the spring of 2024.

The Sidney Cox Memorial Prize

• Sanjana Raj, "The Museum of Unnatural History"

Honorable Mentions:

• Maeve Kenny, "The Four Seasons"
• Eloise Langan, "Oh, Rats."

The Academy of American Poets Prize

• Maeve Kenney, Poems

The Jacobson-Laing Award in Poetry

• Ethan Gearey, "I've Been in Love"

The Mecklin Prize

• Maeve Kenney, "The Four Seasons"
• Armita Mirkarimi, "Nostalgia is a Wishing Well"
• Eloise Langan, "Saint Bonnie"
• Natala Schmitter-Emerson, "A Story that Never Ends"

The Grimes Prize

• Yevheniia Dubrova, "Blue Heron"

The Lockwood Prize

• Anne Rhee, Poems
• Jessica Yang, "Pacific Ghosts"

William C. Spengemann Award in Writing

Erskine Caldwell Prize

Ralston Prize

• Ulla-Brit Libre

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2021 GLOBAL WINNERS!

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2023-2024 Young Writers Awards Winners

Bennington College congratulates all entrants on their extraordinary submissions and is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 winning entries.

• First Place , “ for your own good / All Men are Bad / sugar pill ," Sophie Bernik, Traverse City, MI, Interlochen Arts Academy
• Second Place , “ They grind up racehorses  /  all her things have gone far away   / Bedtime Stories for Little Curses ,” Seoyon Kim, East Greenwich, RI, Wheeler School
• Third Place , “ Exam God Hands You While Dawdling Before the Pearly Gates / False Elegy / Homecoming ,” Ava Chen, Wellesley, MA, Phillips Academy
• First Place , “ 1000 ,” Kekoa Dowsett, Portland, OR, Jesuit High School
• Second Place , “ Guide to Being a Girl When You’re Not One, Actually ,” Faith Reasoner-Fellows, Castaic, CA, Castaic High School
• Third Place , “ Holiness in a Downtown Apartment; A Bible Lesson ,” Moriah Hogans, Dothan, AL, Dothan High School
• First Place , “ Death of the Pointe Shoe ,” Addison (Addi) Moss, Pacific Palisades, CA, Stanford Online High School
• Second Place , “ 17 Hail Marys ,” Venya Sharda, Fremont, CA, Washington High School
• Third Place , “ Metamorphoses Caught in Transition ,” Roark Petermann, Walden, NY, Valley Central High School 

About the Contest

Bennington College has a unique literary legacy , including twelve  Pulitzer Prize winners , three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, countless New York Times bestsellers , and two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

In celebration of this legacy, Bennington launched the Young Writers Awards to promote excellence in writing at the high school level. Our goal with this competition is to recognize outstanding writing achievement by high school students.

Each year, students in the 9th–12th grades are invited to enter in one of the following categories with the following submission:

Poetry: A group of three poems

Fiction: A short story (1,500 words or fewer) or one-act play (run no more than 30 minutes of playing time)

Nonfiction : A personal or academic essay (1,500 words or fewer)

A first, second, and third place winner is selected in each category. We welcome submissions from both U.S. and international students. 

Have questions about the contest? Email   [email protected]

  Download a Young Writers Awards poster to print and hang in your classroom or school.  

Download an alternate printable young writers awards submission form .-->, awards & rules.

First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $1,000 ; second-place winners receive $500;  third-place winners receive $250 .

There is no entry fee.

All entries must be original work reviewed, approved and sponsored by a high school teacher. We will use your sponsoring teacher as a contact for the competition should we have any questions. For homeschooled students, please contact a mentor to sponsor your writing.

Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington. YWA finalists who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $10,000  scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $40,000 . YWA winners who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $15,000  scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $60,000 .

The competition runs annually from September 1 to November 1 .

Congratulations to our 2023–2024 winners!

Young Writer's Awards FAQ

Absolutely! We welcome students from all over the globe to participate in the Young Writers Awards.

Nope! The competition is free.

Enter in N/A, we’ll figure it out from there.

We ask that participants submit in only one category, and submit only one time per year.

We welcome simultaneous submissions.

We ask that students who participate be in 9th through 12th grade—sadly gap year students are not eligible for the competition.

We have a diverse group of people who read our submissions; however, we do not currently accept submissions that are not written in English.

As Stephen King says: kill your darlings. The word count is strict, get your submission down to 1500 words. Headers, footers, footnotes, titles, bibliographies all count.

A sponsoring teacher is someone who has worked with you, read what you’ve decided to submit, and helped you edit it. They’ve given you feedback and advice. Once you submit your work, your sponsoring teacher’s work is largely done, but we want to make sure that you’ve done this step.

You don’t have to have taken a class with them, but they should know you, and have worked with you in some capacity previously. Your parents don’t count (unless you’re a homeschooled student).

More About Literature Studies at Bennington

Literature studies at Bennington are grounded in the idea that good writers are good readers. Each year, an exceptional group of Bennington undergraduates is chosen to participate in an MFA summer residency through the Undergraduate Writing Fellowship . At the graduate level, the MFA offered by the Bennington Writing Seminars is one of the best low-residency programs in the United States.

Off the Page and Outside the Classroom

Bennington College believes that a writer’s influence extends beyond the printed page. As the steward of the Robert Frost Stone House Museum , Bennington is committed to maintaining and growing Robert Frost’s literary legacy in Southern Vermont and beyond.

Throughout the year, Bennington College welcomes prominent writers and alumni to campus for readings during its Literature Evenings, Poetry at Bennington, and Writers Reading series.

Students at Bennington are invited to contribute to SILO , the student literary and arts magazine. Bennington Review , a national biannual literary journal based at the College, provides students an opportunity to help edit and produce a professional print literary magazine. Bennington College Literature students go on to become novelists, poets, journalists, biographers, and more. Explore notable alumni.

Join Us At Bennington

Interested in exploring what a Bennington education can offer? Here are some next steps: 

Past Winners

Each year, over 5,000 students submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. We congratulate all entrants on their extraordinary submissions, and are pleased to share past winning entries.

2022-2023 Winners

read media release

• First Place , " Manhattanhenge / Scrapyard Blues / What moves the needle ," Katie Hwang , Dalton School, New York, NY
• Second Place , " Ghazal for Matrilineal Multiverse / Appetence of Vietnamese Daughter / Moonlight on the Ganges ," Sunny Vuong , BASIS San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
• Third Place , " parking lot supplications / Cassandra / (clementine) peel ," Anaya Marei, homeschooled, Stockton, CA
• First Place , " A Story Woven From a Bucket of Milk ," Enkhjin Gantumur, School 1 of Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• Second Place , “ Untitled ,” Caroline Anthony, The High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX
• Third Place , " ‘How have you been?’ ‘Unlike you ,’" Shambhavi Sinha, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Collegiate Public School, Chandigarh, India
• First Place , " Diagnosis of Familial, Lateral Curvatures ," Joanna Liu, Lexington High School, Lexington, MA
• Second Place , " Cat in a Box ," Kat Davis , South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
• Third Place , " Riddled Realities ," Emaan Abbasi, Lahore Grammar School, Lahore, Pakistan 

2021-2022 Winners

• First Place , " How Did Li Bai Die? / How to Turn Into the River / Suns ," Ran Zhao, King George V School, Kowloon, Hong Kong
• Second Place ,  " Broken Abecedarian for America / Ghazal for K / Fish-bodied ," Jessica Kim, La Canada High School, La Canada, CA
• Third Place ,   " In Which My Mother Asks When the Hell I’m Getting Baptized / Etymology of Paternity / Bible Study Ghazal ," Ashley Wang, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville NJ
• First Place , " Observations made at the Lu Family Dinner Table, New Year's Eve, 2019 ," Sunshine Chen, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA
• Second Place , " A Language is a Story ," Olga Musial, 33 Copernicus High School, Warszawa, Poland
• Third Place ,   "I Leave the Six Blank "   was written by Rachel Kenley Fry and attributed to another writer, who submitted the work. This never should have happened as the contest requires students to submit original work. We apologize to the writer for this wrongful attribution. Measures have been taken to guard against plagiarism in the future.
• First Place,   " The—Lovely—Red—Skirt ," Youjaye Daniels, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenvile, SC
• Second Place , " Somewhere in Southern Florida ," Vivian Zhu, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL
• Third Place , " Family Portrait as a Gutted Fish ," Danny Liu, Lake Highland Prep School, Orlando, FL

2020-2021 Winners

• First Place , " When You Wish Upon a Star / [letter to durga] / Sightseeing ," Aanika Eragam, Milton High School, Alpharetta, GA
• Second Place , " a sudden nostalgia that i am meant to be somewhere else / The Bedroom / Etymology of Loss ," Olivia Yang, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
• Third Place ,   " Girl Sonnet / Honey Ghazal / Shelter, Water, A Bite to Eat ,"   Madelyn Dietz, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• First Place , " Somewhere Nearby Connecticut, There's a Clan of Vampires and a Woman He May Never Know ," Alyssa Wilson, South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
• Second Place , " Dinner of Three ," Wes Davis, Henry Clay High School, Lexington, KY
• Third Place , " Birthday Party ," Katarina Ivkovic, Hunter College High School, New York, NY
• First Place,   " Dissecting Matryoshka ," Stefania Bielkina, The Dwight School, New York, NY
• Second Place , " Skin Test ," Indigo Mudbhary, Lick Wilmerding High School, San Francisco, CA
• Third Place, " Gifted ,"   Rebecca Orten, Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury, VT

2019-2020 Winners

2018-2019 winners.

• First Place: " made without hands / My daughter inherits my mouth and my fear of everything / Things Without Mouths: An Index ," Sophie Paquette, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• Second Place: " Unneeded Insecurities / My Reason (Outro) / Arrival ," Devon Reed-Rivera, Cumberland High School, Cumberland, VA
• Third Place: " Type Girl / Uber Driver / Daughter Said ," Karrington Garland, Franklin Academy High School, Wake Forest, NC
• First Place:  " Haymarket ," Cynthia Lu, Belmont High School, Belmont, MA
• Second Place:  " Moon Fever ," Kali Puhnaty, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, CA
• Third Place: " Hardest Hue to Hold , " Lillian Robles, Homeschooled, Glendale, CA
• First Place: "Sundown with Giraffes," Azpiri Iglesias, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• Second Place:  " Becoming a Woman: A Checklist ," Thalia King, Pittsburgh CAPA High School, Pittsburgh, PA
• Third Place: " Transience ," Jessica Yu, West Linn High School, West Linn, OR

2017-2018 Winners

• First Place: "Manhandling / i. lying ghazal / ii. lying ghazal,"  Julia Bohm, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• Second Place: "Sext to Absalom / Bildungsroman with Distant Nation / Field Notes on Rough Trade,"  Aidan Forster, SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
• Third Place: "Art Tatum: Harmonium / Art Plays a Myth / The Panther Room,"  Darius Atefat-Peckham, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• First Place:   "The Seventh Secret," Lilly Hunt, Northpoint Christian School, Southaven, MS
• Second Place:   "The Cat You Named Remy," Zane Austill, SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
• First Place: "PEEL,"  Kelley Liu, Troy High School, Troy, MI
• Second Place:   "Ruth," Sophie Paquette, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
• Third Place: "Bingo,"  Katherine Chou, Hamilton High School, Chandler, AZ

2016–2017 Winners

Poetry .

• First Place: "Necessary Roughness / Public Enemy No. 1 / Seoul is singing now,"  Christina Im, Sunset High School, Portland, OR
• Second Place: "Anaerobic / Kintsugi / Lake-Effect Snow,"  Steven Chung, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, CA

Fiction 

• First Place: "Souvenirs,"  Catherine Wang, Chinese International School, Hong Kong
• Second Place: "House of God,"  Jacqueline He, The Harker School, San Jose, CA

Nonfiction 

• First Place: "Watermelon Seeds,"  Chaeyeon (Annika) Kim, Dwight Engelewood School, NJ
• Second Place: "A Trip to Home Depot,"  Carlos Orozco, Sage Hill School, Newport Coast, CA

2015–2016 Winners

• First Place: "What Made Me / Night Fishing / Dilutions,"  Letitia Chan, Milton Academy, Milton, MA
• Second Place: "Nanjing Road / Autumn / Glass Familia,"  Helli Fang, Walnut Hill School, Natick, MA
• First Place: "Reddi-Wip," Walker Caplan, The Lakeside School, Seattle, WA
• Second Place: "Momma Drove Like a Man,"  Ella Zalon, Oakland School for the Arts, Oakland, CA
• First Place: "Of Perfumes,"  Addie Glickstein, East High School, Denver, CO
• Second Place: "Hair,"  Luisa Healey, Hunter College High School, New York, NY

2014–2015 Winners 

• First Place: "Ebola in Dallas / At Thurgood Marshall / When My Parents Go Out I Eat Breakfast For Dinner and Pee With the Door Open,"  Rachel Calnek-Sugin, Hunter College High School, New York, NY
• Second Place: "Ling hoards fake eyelashes / Ling traces X's on her collarbone / Ling takes off her left hand wedding ring before she sleeps," Carissa Chen, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
• Second Place: "Mansions,"  Sophia Gyarmathy, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL
• First place: "Motherland,"  Jessica Li, Livingston High School, Livingston, NJ
• Second Place: "Driving Lessons From My Brother,"  Maryam Ahmad, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY

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SOTA Primary 6 Creative Writing Competition 2023

Winning stories from 2021.

Click on the top three winners' names to read their submissions!

A One-Way Ticket

By lim min yi kelly, raffles girls’ primary school 1 st prize winner.

The little girl clung tightly to her mother’s arm.

“It’s going to be alright,” her mother cooed, but the way her eyes flicked about betrayed her own anxiety.

In her other hand, the girl’s mother held two green tickets. She clutched it the way one would when they had struck the lottery.

As the pair walked across the white marble floor of the station, a large black screen caught the girl’s eye.

“ Attention: The train to 1994 will be leaving in three minutes. ”

The green letters displayed on the screen flashed.

“ Due to the dangers of the Spanish flu pandemic, passengers are advised not to travel to the years 1918 to 1920. ”

“Where are we going?” The girl asked.

“We’re going to save Daddy.” her mother said calmly, trying to hide the panic that festered in her heart. She knew the risks of taking the Light Train.

The clock struck twelve as the head of a pale-coloured train appeared, as if cut off from the rest of the vehicle. As it moved forward, more carriages materialised, until all were in full view. Its doors slid open with the grace of a serpent, and the passengers on the platform streamed in. The girl sat next to her mother, looking out of the small window. An ancient tree stood outside. The train let out a loud cry. The tree began to morph rapidly, its trunk peeling back one layer at a time, its leaves changing colours and its outer branches vanishing. The train let out another cry, and beside the train stood the same tree, but it now seemed smaller and younger. The girl’s eyes widened. Her mother clasped her hand and led her out of the train.

“Stay here, Mommy will be back soon.” Her mother said hurriedly.

“But-”

Before the girl could protest, her mother was already gone. The little girl watched helplessly as the sand trickled down the hourglass. Hours passed, and people began to stream onto the train. The little girl’s mind filled with worry.

“ The train to 1998 will be leaving in 2 minutes. ”

The little girl got onto the train hesitantly.

“ The train to 1998 will be leaving in 1 minute ”

“Mommy…” The little girl wailed.

The train doors began to close. Abruptly, the girl's mother came running towards the train.

“Hurry! The train is going to leave!” The girl yelled. She ran forward and tried to hold the doors open, but she wasn’t strong enough.

Her mother stared at her with a resigned smile, tears welling in her hazel eyes. This was clearly not a dream .

“I’m sorry, Isabella. I will always love you.”

The doors slammed shut, drowning out the girl’s anguished screams.

by Kate Suzuki Kokomi, Nan Hua Primary School 2 nd Prize Winner

Impossible.

But if it was impossible, then why had she seemed so real? Even if she was real, it was still so hard to believe…

It all started when my brother, Gabe, and I decided to go hiking. When we stopped to satiate our growling stomachs, we heard a tell-tale pitter-patter sound. Angry dark clouds were chasing each other, racing towards us.

I opened my umbrella, just in the nick of time. Quickening our paces, we splashed down the hill.

While we were running, I caught a glimpse of something pink. Skidding to a halt, I looked around suspiciously.

“What?” Gabe panted.

Then, I spotted a little girl in a pink dress, hugging a teddy bear.

I approached her warily, “Excuse me, aren’t you awfully young to be standing here, alone in the rain?” I asked.

She remained mum, but pointed in the direction of the exit.

“You’re lost? Do you need our help?” I inquired. She nodded. Strangely, I could not see her face clearly.

At the exit, the girl ducked out of our umbrella and ran to the nearby shelter. Then, she merely stood there, still as a statue.

Back home, after bathing and having dinner, Gabe and I were so exhausted, we fell onto our beds and sunk immediately into a deep sleep…

I woke up with a start. What was that?

There it was again. This was clearly NOT a dream.

Cautiously, I got out of bed and pulled the curtains open. My jaw dropped. There was a little girl levitating outside my window.

Her small finger was tapping on the window pane. She was holding a teddy bear and was soaking wet.

Her dress. It was pink.

My eyes widened and I attempted to scream but it got stuck in my throat. I tried to force it out, to no avail.

“Thank you.” With a small sad smile, she was gone.

I blacked out.

“Gabby! Gabby!” I jerked awake to come face to face with my brother.

“Gabe! I saw the little girl we helped yesterday! She...she was hovering outside my window last night!” I blurted out, my eyes darting towards the window frantically.

Gabe looked at me like I had three heads. “We live on the 10th floor,” he said matter-of-factly, “You must have been dreaming! Now, come out for breakfast!”

I blinked rapidly in confusion.

by Ng Ho Moon Aschea, Henry Park Primary School 3 rd Prize Winner

“33, 32, 31…” gazing at her countdown chart on the wall.

No one knew why. All Charlie knew was that she had an incurable disease. There was a knock on her bedroom door. She opened the door with the little strength left inside her. She peered around the door landing and noticed an oddly large box with her name printed on it. Cautiously, she dragged the box into her room, took a deep breath and opened it.

Her eyes widened. There were several tiny pork buns, yet unordinary buns. They hopped and emitted soft and shrill squeaks. Charlie felt a smile etched across her face. She remembered them from her childhood imagination - the Pygmy Buns.

Then, before her eyes, Rabbit, Brown Bear and Jaguar appeared. The three animals seemed to be having a tea party and a friendly argument at the same time.

“I’m telling you, a red hat would look nicer,” said the Rabbit.

“No, no, a yellow hat would look far fancier,” retorted the Brown Bear indignantly.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, let’s all agree that a blue hat would be politically most appropriate,” said the Jaguar calmly.

Charlie chuckled, recalling the pretend “tea party” with her three soft toys who kept her company as she had no siblings. Charlie closed and hid the box deep inside her wardrobe so no one would find it.

The moment Charlie woke up in the morning, she opened the mysterious box excitedly. She was pleasantly surprised, the objects changed again. She found her Grandma and herself in there, underneath the Eiffel tower! She remembered as a child planning with her Grandma on their trip to Paris…and they were about to go. Days before their departure, Grandma had a stroke and passed away.

“Charlie,” called her mom, “come down for breakfast!” Charlie dried her tears, closed the lid of the box and went downstairs reluctantly.

“10, 9, 8…” came the next moment Charlie got the chance to open her box. She found a large six-story house, the rooms big and fanciful, and filled with red and gold everywhere. Even though the house was miniature like a 3D model, Charlie felt as though she was inside the mansion. She was transported back to her fantasy dream house, which she spent hours and hours, drawing again and again.

Then she heard it, in that shimmering sunroom of the mansion. A voice said, although she was going to leave this world, she was not alone. She felt a familiar sense of comfort, more carefree than ever, like a little butterfly fluttering in a sea of flowers…the wind beneath her wings, a feeling she never experienced before.

Charlie set off somewhere far away. Somewhere safe.

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CA x Bloomsbury Competition

In 2023, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing, we ran a creative writing competition to give girls, young women and non-binary writers aged 19 or under the opportunity to have their creative work appear alongside bestselling authors Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint. We asked entrants to submit a piece of creative writing of 1500 words or less, inspired by the classical world, and there were hundreds of amazing entries. See below for the results: huge congratulations to all of the long and short listed writers!

Cait Kremenstein – In the Bad Times

Cait’s brilliant story has been selected as the overall winning entry and will be published by Bloomsbury in the upcoming  Women Re-Creating Classics: Contemporary Voices , co-edited by  Dr Emily Hauser  (author of the acclaimed  For the Most Beautiful ) and  Dr Helena Taylor , where they foreground discussions and interviews between writers and academics, reflecting on why classical creative retellings are so popular now, and showcase fantastic contemporary receptions of Classics by women writers. Make sure to look out for this exciting publication and read In the Bad Times !

Listen here to our podcast interview with Cait about the inspiration for her winning story.

Hafsa Tifow – An Ouroborosian Odyssey

Hettie Nolan – Our Penelope

Final Shortlist

Maddy Browne – Orpheus at Temple Meads

Chloe Choi Chu Cam – The Hetaera Confesses in the Whispered Dark

Emelia Dobson – A grapevine grows

Salma Elsaid – A Daughter Betrayed

Roberta Jenkins – The Weavers

Jay T. A. Miller – He Is Apollo

Evie Patterson – Women are Stained with Blood

Sophie Powers – Daphne

May Robinson – Pomegranate Juice

Lily Shahata – To Pygmalion

Lily White – A Woman Scorned

Angelina Wu – Chicken

Shortlisted

Saskia Grace Blacker – An Heir’s Loom

Isobelle Catherine – Bloodlust

Penelope Ceccato – Penelope

Chloe Choi Chu Cam – Clytemnestra Auditions for the Role of Lady Macbeth

Almila Dükel – Hidden Islands

Maria Louise Green – Odyssea

Isobel Gurnett – Burning of Alyssa

Maisie Harris – Losing my religion

Esme Hobbs – In the future we cannot see the stars

Mathilda Ingall – Daphne Lauri

Charlie James – The Tenth Muse

Keira Judd – Goddess of Vengeance

Vilkas Kraker – Ad Infinitum

Raadhikhaa Kumaarr – Ode to Venus

Sophie Laithwaite – Amidst the Ash

Aashi Lalit – Betrayal requires a vulnerable soul

Vanessa Leung – Blood Flower

Amy Luong – The world burns for her

L.A. Macari – The Eleusinian Mystery

Camille Marty – What is Aspasia?

Annie McDowell – Fallen Verdigris Leaves

Phoebe Meyer – Caryatid

Peregrine Neger – Unravelled

Lucy Nicholson – I watched, I wove

Hettie Nolan – Andromeda in Ecstasy ; Spinster

Rose Ridley – Clytemnestra

Madeleine Riley-Smith – Miss Fortune

Nico Rondelli – Iphigenia

Olivia Saunders – The Silent Women of Tragedy

Zoe Sayers – Lucretia’s Elegy

Hannah Scotland – Musings on Death

Olivia Lauren Strudwick – I sing of arms

Maryclare Tan – Lucretia

Helen Totty – Aphrodite

Imogen Vernon – A Poet’s Tyranny

Kitty Volino – Little Bird

Jasmine Wales – The Red Amphora

Violet Wan (Ching) – Eniautos daimon

Ruby Warren – This is what happened to spring

Cherie Wong – The Lost Pleiad: Wife of Sisyphus

Anastasia Zelenskaya – Fallen

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Insight Creative Writing Competition

Insight Creative Writing Competition 2023 Winners

Thank you to everyone who entered the Insight Creative Writing Competition 20123. Congratulations to all the winners.

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Welcome to the home page of the Bulgarian Creative Writing Competition! Please feel free to click around and learn more about the contest, its history, and how you and your school can get involved! Use the tabs at the top of the page or the following quick links:

NEWS PAGE – Recent updates on this year’s competition

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Celebrating Health Profession Students' Poetry, Prose, and Visual Arts

Program for Humanities in Medicine 2024 Health Professions Creative Writing and Art Contest Awards Ceremony

Lenique Huggins - First place in Art category

Created by MD student Hang Nguyen. Second place in Art category

WInston Trope - Honorable Mention in Art category

Zeynep Inanoglu - Honorable Mention in Art category

2024 PHM Health Professions Creative Writing and Art Contest Award Ceremony - Student Winners

Winning artwork

Black Motherhood in Medicine

Created by MD student Lenique Huggins. First place in Art category

These Small Things

These are the titles of the poetry, prose, and visual artworks that received first-place in the annual Yale School of Medicine (YSM) Program for Humanities in Medicine (PHM) Health Professions Students' Creative Writing & Art Contest. On May 2, the student winners were celebrated at a gathering where they shared and often provided context for their creations. A supportive and appreciative audience applauded enthusiastically after each presentation.

Professor and PHM Director Anna Reisman, MD, welcomed everyone to the celebration, sharing that the contest began more than two decades ago. It originally was a poetry and prose contest just for medical students; the family of Marguerite Rush Lerner, MD, established and endowed the contest to honor her. Lerner was a dermatologist at YSM, as well as a children’s book author. (Lerner’s husband, Aaron Lerner, MD, PhD, was the first chair of Yale’s Department of Dermatology, and two of their four sons, Ethan Lerner, MD, PhD ‘82 and Michael Lerner, MD ’81, attended YSM.) Reisman explained that several years ago the contest expanded to include visual arts, and also students from across the health profession schools and programs—MD, MD-PhD, Physician Associate, Physician Assistant Online, Nursing, and Public Health.

This year, almost 100 students participated in the contest. MD student winners receive the Marguerite Rush-Lerner prize; the other Yale health professions students receive the Program for Humanities in Medicine prize. See the list of winners under "Related Links."

While second-year MD student Lenique Huggins had been thinking about creating Black Motherhood in Medicine for a few months, it only took two evenings to do so, once she began.

She explains that the inspiration for the piece started in her first week of medical school, when she learned that the maternal mortality rate for Black mothers is 2.6 more than non-Hispanic white mothers. “As a young Black woman, this statistic especially pained me and my close friends.” Additionally, she says that in classes throughout the year, she was part of formal and informal discussions about being a mother in medicine. “I heard from classmates across racial backgrounds about their real fears of balancing pregnancy with their medical training and pregnancy complications among medical professionals.” That led her to begin to think about “my intersection as a future Black mother in medicine and the challenges I may face because of these identities. Now, as a second-year student, I created a piece that captures something I have thought much about these past two years.”

Huggins grew up in a Caribbean household close to art and culture from all over the world. “I’ve always been surrounded by music, dance, storytelling, and visual art, and my family hosted international students throughout my childhood. I started playing the piano at age three, and have been singing, dancing, and doodling for as long as I can remember.” However, it was not until she was an undergraduate at Duke University and participated in community service that she “began to understand the therapeutic value of art.”

Through her involvement in different programs at that time, including Families Moving Forward, a shelter for families without homes, and Reflections, a weekly art program for adults with dementia at Duke Nasher Museum, Huggins says, “I saw how encouraging self-expression could bring peace during uncertain times, reduce stress, and empower communities. When I went through a rough time in my sophomore year, I found myself using painting for a lot of healing.”

Huggins continues, “I will continue practicing art. It’s a self-care practice that helps me combat burnout and show up better for patients who need me.”

Class of 2025 MD student Hang Nguyen started painting at age 11, when her family immigrated to America from Vietnam. She explains, “I did not speak English at the time, so art was a vessel through which I could communicate my tumultuous adolescent mind.”

Currently, she paints often and says her favorite subject is “surreal, tranquil, and, occasionally, liminal landscapes, such as a classroom at midnight, an overgrown, abandoned church, and a long corridor that leads nowhere. For me, these landscapes represent a longing for a space that exists tranquilly, where one can be one's true self.”

Nguyen painted Submerged specifically for this contest; “In other words, this contest inspired me to look inward and reflect on — instead of simply overcome and move forward from — the challenges that I have encountered in medical school.” Through the work she wanted “to convey the various feelings that I experienced while studying for board exams using motifs that are near and dear to me like water and fish in a surreal, tranquil, and liminal ambience.” She painted it during time dedicated to Step 1, over the course of a week, working on it for an hour to two at night.

Hunger , On Chinese Medicine , and On the First Day of Anatomy Lab

First-year Physician Associate (PA) student Kelly Dunn was honored with three prizes: A tie for first place in prose for Hunger , a tie for second place in poetry for On Chinese Medicine , and honorable mention in prose for On the First Day of Anatomy Lab , each of which she shared with the audience. While Dunn, who “always considered the humanities to be a part of my life,” has been an avid reader and artist for as long as she can remember, she did not start writing until the COVID-19 pandemic. She says she mostly wrote nonfiction, and only semi-frequently, “whenever something momentous transpired, or I suddenly felt called to it,” explaining, “so much of my love and appreciation for writing comes from the fact that it’s a medium to better articulate an experience through. Having something so fresh and felt so acutely is a wonderful impetus to begin writing.”

The contest was one of Dunn’s first times writing poetry, “I’ve always been intimidated by it. Learning the different poetic forms and metric lines, as well as how to be economical with my words, seems like something I’ll never be able to achieve.” She continued, “I’m grateful for this contest for giving me an opportunity to try”

For Dunn, writing in PA school has been “incredibly helpful processing all that has happened. Every day I vacillate between feelings of immense wonder, humility, and gratitude— and these words in themselves don’t even do the moments I’ve witnessed justice.”

Acknowledgements

Reisman thanked PHM Manager Karen Kolb for her work coordinating the contest, and the 16 YSM faculty and staff members who served as judges:

Aba Black, MD, MHS, Anne Merritt, MD, MS, Terry Dagradi, Sarah Cross, MD, Lorence Gutterman, MD, Melissa Grafe, PhD, Randi Hutter-Epstein, MD, MPH, Kenneth Morford, MD, Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, MD, Vincent Quagliarello, MD, Lisa Sanders, MD, Nora Segar, MD, Elizabeth Marhoffer, MD, Rita Rienzo MMSC, PA-C, Sharon Chekijian, MD, PhH, and Cynthia McNamara, MD.

Featured in this article

• Aba Black, MD, MHS
• Sharon Anoush Chekijian, MD, MPH
• Sarah Cross, MD
• Terry Dagradi
• Randi Epstein
• Melissa Grafe, PhD
• Lorence Gutterman, MD
• Lenique Huggins
• Karen P Kolb
• Elizabeth Marhoffer, MD
• Cynthia Frary McNamara, MD, FACP
• Anne Merritt, MD, MS
• Kenneth Morford, MD, FASAM
• Hang Nguyen
• Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, MD, IBCLC
• Vincent Quagliarello, MD
• Anna Reisman, MD
• Rita Rienzo, MMSc, PA-C
• Lisa Sanders, MD, FACP
• Nora Segar, MD

Related Links

• Contest winners
• 4 YSN Students Earn Prizes at Health Professions Creative Writing and Art Contest
• On Chinese Medicine
• On the First Day of Anatomy Lab

• Precepting at YSN
• Event Calendar

2024 Program for Humanities in Medicine Health Professions Creative Medical Writing and Art Contest: “Care Taker” by Terri Motraghi

Yale university’s 2024 program for humanities in medicine (phm) health professions creative medical writing and art contest awarded first prize in poetry to terri motraghi, a clinical research nurse and online msn candidate in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner specialty. to read more about yale school of nursing (ysn)’s other prize winners in this contest, please visit ysn news ., by terri motraghi, to read more about yale school of nursing (ysn)’s other prize winners in this contest,  please visit ysn news ..