Writing Awards 51
Chris Siteman of Brookline, Massachusetts for “Memory Animal”
Chris Siteman lives in Massachusetts, holds an MFA from Emerson College, a JD from Suffolk University Law School, and teaches English at Suffolk University and Bridgewater State University. His poems and nonfiction have appeared in journals such as Salamander, Reed Magazine, Sugar House Review, and River Teeth, among numerous others.
Susan Salgy of Provo, Utah for “Lesson for a Tree in a Snowstorm”
Susan Chock Salgy studied creative writing at Brigham Young University, and writes poetry and creative non-fiction. Recent publications include essays “The COVID Interregnum,” published in Pages Penned in Pandemic: A Collective, and “Indelible,” published in Glassworks. Her poetry appears in The Sunlight Press, Sunstone, The Magnolia Review, and at Writers.com.
Laura Herbst of Portland, Oregon for “Little Ancestors”
Laura Herbst has finished her debut novel, set in Togo, and is seeking representation. She has been awarded the Kay Snow Award and the Doris Betts Fiction Prize, and her stories have appeared in The Sun, The Tishman Review, F(r)iction, North Carolina Literary Review, and upcoming in The Timberline Review.
Alexandra Blogier of Boston, Massachusetts for “Rebirth”
Alexandra Blogier lives in Boston, Massachusetts and along the edge of Cape Cod. She is the author of the YA novel The Last Girl on Earth and is an MFA candidate in fiction at Emerson College.
— FINALISTS —
POETRY
Ingrid Andersson
Madison, Wisconsin
“Thin Places”
Laura Apol
Lyons, Michigan
“Umbra”
Emily August
St. Paul, Minnesota
“The Skeleton Builder”
Imani Cezanne
Oakland, California
“All heroes wear bonnets”
Ricardo de la Cruz II
Normal, Illinois
“For Threnody”
Charles Fishman
Patchogue, New York
“Seven Witnesses”
Dean Gessie
Ontario, Canada
“[sic]stemic”
Megan Harrison
San Antonio, Texas
“The Morning My Husband Let Me Sleep In”
M. M. Holloway
St. Paul, Minnesota
“Trans-Formed”
Nancy Kangas
Columbus, Ohio
“How It Went Down”
Maurya Kerr
Oakland, California
“Venge”
Wendy Kieffer
Tampa, Florida
“Matrescence”
Suzanne Lummis
Los Angeles, California
“Those Poets Who Write About Loss”
Caroline New
Bainbridge, Georgia
“How to teach a boy from Queens to swim”
Barbara A. Perry
Chicago, Illinois
“In Order to Truly Bury Us”
Claudia Reder
Oxnard, California
“The History of Fear”
Arien Reed
Raymond, California
“January 25, 2021 in Oakhurst, CA”
Brad Richard
New Orleans, Louisiana
“The Path to the TG&Y”
Pamela Sumners
St. Louis, Missouri
“Shelf Life”
Brendan Todt
Sioux City, Iowa
“Because I Am Human”
FICTION
Mark Bazelgette
San Rafael, California
“Lethal Complications”
Jon Fried
Millburn, New Jersey
“Let’s Get This Over With”
Jim Gish
Arcanum, Ohio
“Wandering Boys”
Will Hearn
Gulf Shores, Alabama
“Blow Me Away”
Emily Howes
London, United Kingdom
“In Miniature”
Kanza Javed
Punjab, Pakistan
“Worry Doll”
Nancy Lederman
New York, New York
“Adios, Scheherazade”
Evelyn Maguire
Amherst, Massachusetts
“Mountain Pose”
Lori Kate Martin
Pittsburg, Kansas
“Rumble”
Kevin Gerard Neill
Richmond Heights, Missouri
“Hear the Ever Approaching Thunder”
N. Page
Toronto, Canada
“Fake Friends and Bummer Jams”
Jim Roberts
Loveland, Ohio
“The Jackshit Bastards”
Joshua Sales
Knoxville, Tennessee
“The Flood of ’97”
Elizabeth Schultz
Austin, Texas
“Good Fences, Good Neighbors”
Rebecca Schwab
Dunkirk, New York
“Joiner”
Alan Sincic
Gotha, Florida
“Sand”
Joe Totten
Midway, Utah
“Reserved Seats for Armegeddon”
Keilly Ulery
Athens, Georgia
“These Tender Breakable Things”
Charlie Watts
Freedom, New Hampshire
“Ceremonies”
Charles Wheelan
Hanover, New Hampshire
“A Fresh New Voice”
FLASH FICTION
Elana Ableson
Gilroy, California
“Our Voices Echo”
Debra Bokur
Nederland, Colorado
“Jack Regrets His Morning at the Market”
Natasha Christensen
Littleton, Colorado
“Berekvam”
Timothy Connors
Milledgeville, Georgia
“Silly Fragile Bodies”
Ron Davies
Ottowa, Canada
“At the Water’s Edge”
Brian Feehan
Wilton, Connecticut
“#NeverAfter”
Mauricio Montiel Figueiras
Mexico City, Mexico
“Migratory Birds”
Ásdís Ingólfsdóttir
Reykjavík, Iceland
“On a Knife’s Edge”
Edward Jackson
Greenville, Pennsylvania
“A Lack of Parallax”
Bobby Burnett Lee
Langley, Washington
“Kham Duc”
Georgia San Li
Winchester, Massachusetts
“Homecoming”
Fiona Mackintosh
Silver Spring, Maryland
“The Real Jazz Baby”
Molly Menickelly
Herndon, Virginia
“Calando”
John Meyer
Laredo, Texas
“His Father’s Fastball”
Katy Read
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Flowers”
James Rickards
Cornwall, United Kingdom
“Breathe”
Louis Rossi
Port Moody, British Columbia
“Horror Vacui”
Kelley Smith
Brookline, Massachusetts
“Halloween”
Lynn Stearns
Poolesville, Maryland
“Ruptured”
Natalie Warther
Los Angeles, California
“Man’s World”
NONFICTION
Laura Bishop
Antelope, California
“Postscript to Innocence”
Kierstin Bridger
Placerville, Colorado
“Fluorescent: A Double Barrel Portrait.”
Leigh Chen
Vancouver, British Columbia
“Dance of the White Magnolia”
Brianna Donaldson
Santa Cruz, California
“Hold, Please”
Charli Elliott
Seattle, Washington
“Like Mother, Like Daughter”
Rachel Hinkel-Wang
Ashfield, Massachusetts
“You on a Mountain”
Allison Hong Merrill
Orem,Utah
“Water and Unity 水共洪”
Terry Lucas
Mill Valley, California
“The Lie”
Marianna Marlowe
Ross, California
“Marriage and Exile”
Hannah Martin
Los Angeles, California
“Silhouettes from The Bottom of The Ocean”
McKenzie Moser
Los Angeles, California
“The Group”
Irma M. Olmedo
Chicago, Illinois
“Maria Visits La Espiritista”
Felicity Pool
Dublin, New Hampshire
“Control”
Sara Runnels
Seattle, Washington
“More Than Just a Quarantine Distraction”
Suzanne Samples
Pullman, Washington
“Passing Through”
Patricia Smith
Jeffersonville, Indiana
“End of August”
Lee Stockdale
Fairview, North Carolina
“Ask Not”
Emily Turner
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“You Were Both”
Tom Williamson
Torrance, California
“Ghosts Made of Sunshine”
Russell Working
Oak Park, Illinois
“Helen and George”
— Honorable Mentions —
POETRY
Michelle Bitting
Pacific Palisades, California
“Green Parrots”
George Drew
Poestenkill, New York
“Schooled”
Marc Engel
San Bruno, California
“Breath & Matter”
Jonathan Greenhause
Jersey City, New Jersey
“To Sugarcoat the Truth”
B. Fulton Jennes
Ridgefield, Connecticut
“Eternity Comes for La Petit Rat”
Miles Johnson
Pittsburg, California
“Ad hominem, Ms. Williams”
Raphael Kosek
Hopewell Junction, New York
“Mother Wolf”
George Kramer
Alexandria, Virginia
“The Last Aspen Stand”
Edward Meier
Neenah, Wisconsin
“gravity of the situation”
Karla Morton
Raton, New Mexico
“Secrets of the Gumbo”
Shibani Putatunda
Berkley, Michigan
“The Place You Once Called Home”
Ed Ruzicka
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
“I Tell the Young Poets”
Chivas Sandage
Easthampton, Massachusetts
“Paper Chains”
L. J. Sysko
Wilmington, Delaware
“High Time”
Khalisa Williams
Durham, North Carolina
“Shrinking Women”
FICTION
Victor Barall
New York, New York
“The Flash”
Steven Cahill
East Burke, Vermont
“Hospice”
Paul Clayton
Carson City, Nevada
“Remembering Mandy”
Jenna Cornell
De Pere, Wisconsin
“Waking Up Human”
Elizabeth England
New York, New York
“Survival Strategies”
Deac Etherington
Tumacacori, Arizona
“The Man in the Bougainvillea”
Kelly Hill
Louisville, Kentucky
“An Incomplete List of Weddings”
Tamar Jacobs
Ardmore, Pennsylvania
“Join Audio”
Liam Keller
Winnipeg, Manitoba
“The Light of Day”
John Ledford
Green Valley, Arizona
“The Boxer… A Man Alone”
Lisa McCormack
Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
“Light Abiding Darkness”
Megan Ritchie
San Jose, California
“The Sunday List”
Sarah Rosenblum
Shorewood, Wisconsin
“The Birthday”
Joseph Waugh
San Salvador, El Salvador
“The Names of the Not Forgotten”
Ellen Weeren
Fairfax, Virginia
“A Girl in a Country Song”
FLASH FICTION
Ross Berger
Los Angeles, California
“They Come Here Every Friday”
Jess Bird
London, United Kingdom
“Things We Didn’t Say On Tuesday”
Alixx Black
Warsaw, Indiana
“I Can Do This”
Nicki Blake
Kardinya, Australia
“Snell’s Window”
Gabriella Chang
Seoul, South Korea
“Crescent”
Terry Cleveland
Milton, Vermont
“A Purse Within a Purse”
James Colgan
Athens, Ohio
“Morning After”
Lisa Franklin
Walnut Creek, California
“Thirst”
Stephanie Frykholm
Buena Vista, Colorado
“Olaf in the Loft”
Bill Lee
Windsor, Connecticut
“On His Way to Heaven”
Kirsten Mosher
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
“Around the Block”
James Prier
Vancouver, British Columbia
“Rivers”
Cynthia Riffe
New Braunfels, Texas
“Stolen Moments”
Alice Rockingham-Gill
Belmore, Australia
“Recovery”
Abram Valdez
Dallas, Texas
“A Deluge for Dowsing Rods”
NONFICTION
Annette Althouse
Yellowknife, Canada
“Rippin’ It Up”
James Carbaugh
Liberty, South Carolina
“Countess of the Kitchen, Duchess of Decorum”
Anne Connor
Jamaica, Vermont
“Some Antibiotics Could Promote Long-Haul Lyme Disease”
Julia Fu
Basking Ridge, New Jersey
“First Comes… Friendship!”
Renata Golden
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“How Much Does a Bag Hold?”
Richard Hague
Cincinnati, Ohio
“Paying For It”
Welcome Verde
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Generational Loss”
Renee Levow
New York, New York
“Death & Makeup”
Amanda Mander
Bainbridge Island, Washington
“The Gossip Girls – Learning Life Lessons at an Elephant Sanctuary”
Kris Martinez
St. Charles, Illinois
“Under Water”
Marc Revere
San Marcos, California
“Island of the Dead: A Circumspective Pasage”
Magda Romanska
Boston, Massachusettes
“Runt of the Litter: Disability in the Age of Pandemic”
Sarita Sarvate
Albany, California
“In Love and War”
Morgan Smith
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“The Red Balloon”
Sue Walker
Lynn, Massachusetts
“A Little Bit Longer”