Writing Awards 55
Michael Hogan of Guadalajara, Mexico for “Kissed by Allen Ginsberg”
Michael Hogan is the author of several books of poetry including In the Time of the Jacarandas (Egret Books, 2015). He has received two Pushcart Prizes and an NEA Fellowship for his work. Hogan’s memoir Walking Each Other Home will be published by Trinity University Press in the autumn of 2024.
Mekiya Outini of Kansas City, Missouri for “Baptism by Earth”
Mekiya Outini’s short fiction has appeared in The Coachella Review, Chautauqua, and elsewhere, and the first two chapters of his novel, Ashes, Ashes, were featured in the West Trade Review. He now serves as Managing Editor of The DateKeepers, an international media platform, which he co-founded with his life partner, Itto Outini. The Outinis are also co-authoring Itto’s forthcoming memoir, Blindness is the Light of My Life.
B. Fulton Jennes of Ridgefield, Connecticut for “Father to Son”
B. Fulton Jennes is poet laureate emerita of Ridgefield, CT, and poet-in-residence at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Her poems have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. In 2022, her poem “Glyphs of a Gentle Going” won the Lascaux Prize. Jennes’ collection BLINDED BIRDS (Finishing Line Press) received the 2022 International Book Award for a poetry chapbook. Another chapbook, FLOWN—an elegy for her sister—will be published by Porkbelly Press in 2024.
Jacob Orlando of Baltimore, Maryland for “Molten”
Jacob Orlando is a queer young man of letters from small town Texas. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, he presently works a day job and writes away his free time. Catch his piece “Down Too Many” in The Q&A Queer Zine, Issue 4, and follow him on Tumblr or Twitter for more.
— FINALISTS —
POETRY
Liz Abrams-Morley
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Your Sister, Wyeth, Shoes”
Jessica Barksdale
Vancouver, Washington
“God’s Weekend Visit”
Melissa Bowers
Gilroy, California
“Masquerade”
Tammy Brown
Cincinnati, Ohio
“On Times I Chose Romance Over Logic”
Laura Candler
Sewanee, Tennessee
“Ode to My Hands”
Robert Clinton
Dedham, Massachusetts
“Double Infinities”
Dean Gessie
Ontario, Canada
“[sic]stemic”
Patricia Gray
Washington, D.C.
“Morning of Wilderness and Wind”
Ayris Hatton
Kentfield, California
“The Fire”
PreetamDas Kirtana
Dayton, Ohio
“The Chronic”
Tanya McIntyre
Quebec, Canada
“Dark Tide”
Jason Nisavic
Lagrange, Illinois
“Joy is a Choice”
James Reid
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“A Turkey’s Pardon”
Kathleen Rugel
Donalsonville, Georgia
“Miraculous morning with D. melanogaster“
Mara Adamitz Scrupe
New Canton, Virginia
“Kata’s Minnesota Soliloquy”
David Sloan
Brunswick, Maine
“Recipe for Grammy’s Musical Stew”
David Sullivan
Santa Cruz, California
“All the Time In the World”
Ruth Thompson
Freeville, New York
“Blocking the Chute”
Mary Tyler
North Muskegon, Michigan
“Forgiveness and Banksy and Me”
Jeanne Wagner
Kensington, California
“The Peppered Moths”
Carolyne Wright
Seattle, Washington
“The Room”
FICTION
Anna Badkhen
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Aubade”
Jamey Baumgardt
Poulsbo, Washington
“The Appeasers”
Megan Baxter
Springfield, New Hampshire
“The Killing Frost”
Angie Brenner
El Cajon, California
“Set & Setting”
Orlando Fortuna Dare
Ensenada, Mexico
“Labyrinth Nineteen”
Mark Edwards
Saint Paul, Minnesota
“Mending Wall”
Paul Festa
San Francisco, California
“CockTail d’Amore”
Jenny Halper
Brooklyn, New York
“White Heart”
Enid Harlow
Brooklyn, New York
“Linda: Seeking a Sign”
Alice Hatcher
Tucson, Arizona
“Caesura”
Louise Hawes
Pittsboro, North Carolina
“Arrangements”
James Lark
London, England
“Packed With Memories”
Greg Laskaris
San Diego, California
“If You Stay, You Will Die”
Addie Lovell
Brooklyn, New York
“Hauntings”
Katherine Merrill
Grantsville, Maryland
“Optimized”
Rebecca Munley
Glendale, California
“The Playing Field”
Connie Corzilius Spasser
Augusta, Georgia
“Something Different Than Lies”
Bernadette Stott
London, England
“I am but summer to your heart”
Korey Wallace
Sioux City, Iowa
“Waiting”
Evan Morgan Williams
Portland, Oregon
“Kind Girl, Sister, Teacher, Whale”
FLASH FICTION
Peter Armstrong
Trollhättan, Sweden
“Breakfast”
Amy Blau
Scottsdale, Arizona
“Drinking with the KGB”
Melissa Bowers
Gilroy, California
“Masquerade”
Paula C. Brancato
Livingston, New Jersey
“Mr. Parsons: A True Love Story”
Susan Breall
San Francisco, California
“The Moon In The Refrigerator”
Philip Carr-Harris
Norfolk, Connecticut
“Screech Clank Clunk Silence”
Jee Choi
Chandler, Arizona
“Reflection”
JR Fenn
Rochester, New York
“The Happy Son”
Jeannette Garrett
Houston, Texas
“Chemistry”
Cameron Green
Greenville, North Carolina
“Why the News is Bad for You”
Chris Hannas
Reston, Virginia
“Maeve Saves”
Gregory Jeffers
Keene Valley, New York
“Stoneboat”
Morgan Jeitler
Austin, Texas
“Cause & Effect”
Haley Kennedy
Incline Village, Nevada
“Sealskin”
Jen Knox
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
“Charisma”
Anais La Rocca
Callicoon, New York
“En La Luna”
Victor McConnell
Golden, Colorado
“How To Say Goodbye”
Mary Moreno
New York, New York
“When the Bears Took Manhattan”
Keinosuke Muto
Chiba City, Japan
“The Man at my Desk”
Kim Trevathan
Maryville, Tennessee
“Columnist Attempts Hurdle”
NONFICTION
Anwar Accawi
Knoxville, Tennessee
“79”
Scott Best
Palo Alto, California
“How to Talk to Your Dog About Central America”
Letty Butler
Sheffield, England
“The Catalyst”
Eileen Vorbach Collins
Raleigh, North Carolina
“Love in the Archives”
Wisteria Deng
New Haven, Connecticut
“Red and White”
Susan Haar
Riverhead, New York
“1/2021:Unfortunate Nights”
Lynda Smith Hoggan
Sacramento, California
“Jungle of the Heart”
Jon Imparato
Los Angeles, California
“No Ricky Ricardo”
Jen Knox
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
“Factory Work”
Karen Lauritzen
Clayton, North Carolina
“Making My Way Home”
Desiree Loeven
Simpsonville, South Carolina
“Heart of a Monster”
Kurt Luchs
Kalamazoo, Michigan
“Area Satire Rag Turns 35: The Real History of Fake News”
Cecile Mazzucco-Than
Port Jefferson, New York
“Breath”
Murgatroyd Monaghan
Sudbury, Canada
“The Homemaker”
Vivian Montgomery
Maynard, Massachusetts
“Ice Storm 1973”
Meryl Natchez
Kensington, California
“My Mother’s Exit”
Allen Price
Cranston, Rhode Island
“Racism: A Prelude to a Negro’s Suicide Note”
Charity Starrett
San Antonio, Texas
“The Race Against Freedom”
Stephanie Vanderslice
Conway, Arkansas
“Back to Me: A love letter, on purpose”
Kira Witkin
Queens, New York
“Notes on Grieving the Living”
— Honorable Mentions —
POETRY
Claudia Creed
Ann Arbor, Michigan
“Intake”
Olivia Eggleston
The Hague, Netherlands
“Shedding Him”
Monique Gagnon German
Wayne, Maine
“Catch”
Liesl Garner
Eagle Point, Oregon
“She Thought Perhaps Azalea”
Carol Gilbertson
Decorah, Iowa
“Water Lost”
Jonathan Greenhause
Jersey City, New Jersey
“By 4am, we’re headed towards an abortion clinic in Queens”
Jen Hallaman
Washington, D.C.
“Yellow Descant”
Xavier Jimenez
New Rochelle, New York
“In the Wake of What Went Wrong Back There”
Angela Kelly
Spartanburg, South Carolina
“Sometimes the Ghosts”
Gretchen Larson
Centerville, Utah
“A Pep Talk for Pluto”
Mary Makofske
Warwick, New York
“Mother’s Day”
Damen O’Brien
Wynnum, Australia
“Jane Doe”
Steven Ostrowski
Niantic, Connecticut
“Girl Under Stars”
Veronica Patterson
Loveland, Colorado
“Elegy Triptych”
Helen Wallace
St. Petersburg, Florida
“Road Trip to Everywhere”
FICTION
Amber Blaeser-Wardzala
Tempe, Arizona
“Bait”
Nick Clark
Leeds, England
“Let the Wild Ones Pass Through”
Scott Dergance
Denver, Colorado
“Regret, and Other Oddly Pleasing Emotions”
Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh
Woodstock, Georgia
“Aab”
Yvonne Fein
Melbourne, Australia
“Boat People”
D.R. Glass
South Portland, Maine
“The Three Dreams of Mark Glass”
Jason Harris
College Station, Texas
“The One She’d Have to Rely On”
Mal King
Santa Paula, California
“The Gifts That Cost Everything: A Christmas Story for COVID-19”
Mina Manchester
Altadena, California
“Dry Sink”
Ronald McGuire
Norwell, Massachusetts
“Fitting In”
Bethany Nuckolls
Charlotte, North Carolina
“No Ordinary Family”
Sandra Scofield
Missoula, Montana
“Hank”
Brenda Shoshanna Lukeman
New York, New York
“Circles”
Victoria Smith
Superior, Wisconsin
“Not Once”
Nathan Spicer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
“Striking Songs from Air”
FLASH FICTION
Hal Ackerman
New York, New York
“Public Transit”
Essence Bonitaz
Maplewood, Minnesota
“Something in the Water”
Charles Clifton
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
“Hamlet & Son”
Genevieve Dominguez
Henderson, Nevada
“Sapphire Flames”
Kim Farrar
Astoria, New York
“Directions”
Ananda Naima González
New York, New York
“Big Sister Pine”
Hadley Hunt
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
“Weekend Sleepover”
Joseph Kierland
Los Angeles, California
“Night Flights”
Edward Latham
London, United Kingdom
“The Eternal Judiciary”
Timothy Lord
Bloomington, Illinois
“Reading in Season”
Tamara Miller
Seattle, Washington
“It Dawns on You”
Christy O’Callaghan
Amsterdam, New York
“Tears”
Shikha Pandey
Oviedo, Florida
“Farewells and Continuums”
Anne Sandor
Monroe, New York
“A Spare Kidney”
Korey Wallace
Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
“Where Did They Go?”
NONFICTION
Serena Burman
Eastsound, Washington
“Juno’s House Rules”
Shelley Coleman
Firestone, Colorado
“Muscle Car on a Mission”
Irene Crawley
Collinstown, Ireland
“Joe Beau Jones”
Dan Flanigan
Fairway, Kansas
“San Josef Bay, Cape Scott, Vancouver Island”
Butch Freedman
Tillamook, Oregon
“Carpentry”
Marina Hatsopoulos
Boston, Massachusetts
“New, Useful, and Nonobvious”
Andrew Horan
Brooklyn, New York
“Long Covid and a Longer Goodbye”
Robin Messing
Brooklyn, New York
“Writing a Redeemable Man”
Devon Parish
Montpelier, Vermont
“The Riddle”
Petra Perkins
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
“Ms. Suzy & Mom: Correspondents from the Trenches”
Enda Reilly
Toronto, Canada
“Hart”
Christie Tate
Chicago, Illinois
“A Sponsor, Lost and Found”
Jennifer Todling
Rockville, Maryland
“Waltzing in Vienna”
Sydney Watson
Eastpoint, Florida
“The Death of a Cow”
Ernestine Whitman
Appleton, Wisconsin
“Darkest Winter”