Writing Awards 56
Gretta Trafficante of Detroit, Michigan for “The Curse of Calloused Feet”
Gretta Trafficante (they/them) is a recent graduate of Columbia University, where they were a recipient of the Brownstein Writing Prize. You can find more of Gretta’s creative work in Maudlin House, Quarto Magazine, and Blacklist Journal.
Rebeccca T. Godwin of Pawleys Island, South Carolina for “Saved”
Rebecca T. Godwin has published two novels, Keeper of the House and Private Parts. Her work has appeared in Paris Review, Oxford American, The Sun, and elsewhere. Early on, she received MacDowell and NEA fellowships, then taught for 13 years at Bennington College. In “retirement,” she has turned again to writing, completing a story collection and revising a novel. Named SC Arts Commission’s 2023 Prose Fellow, Godwin also won Broad River Review’s 2023 RASH Fiction Award.
David Sloan of Brunswick, Maine for “Lines in Algonquin”
David Sloan’s debut poetry collection—The Irresistible In-Between—was published by Deerbrook Editions in 2013. A Rising and Other Poems, (Deerbrook), launched in the spring of 2020. A third collection—Earth School—will appear in 2024, published by Deerbrook Editions.
Sloan’s poetry has appeared in dozens of literary journals. He is a two-time recipient of Maine Literary Awards, the Betsy Sholl Award, and the inaugural Maine Poets Society Prize. After teaching for nearly 50 years, most recently at Maine Coast Waldorf High School in Freeport, he is now semi-retired, content to focus on the joys of more regular writing, grandparenting, gardening, cycling, and pickle ball.
— FINALISTS —
POETRY
Ash Adams
Anchorage, Alaska
“Placenta”
Kathleen Arceneaux
Blacksburg, Virginia
“Sky Hooks”
Celeste Briefs
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
“My Heart is a Bestiary”
Cory Brown
Trumansburg, New York
“Lines Inspired by Lines from a Mike Loughran Poem”
Susan Michele Coronel
Ridgewood, New York
“A Matrilineal History of Possession”
Rafaella Del Bourgo
Berkeley, California
“A Gift”
David Denny
Cupertino, California
“The Scoundrel’s Last Refuge”
Krista Drechsel
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Fake It ‘Til You Make It”
Latorial Faison
Chester, Virginia
“Anniversaries”
Linda Flaherty Haltmaier
Beverly, Massachusetts
“Rest Here”
Bonnie Hearn Hill
Fresno, California
“The Way They Leave”
Paloma Minshew
San Antonio, Texas
“Chimuela for Christmas”
Lauren Oertel
Austin, Texas
“Is It the Guns?”
Ksenia Rychtycka
Warren, Michigan
“The Legend of the Knotted Motanka Doll”
Greg Sendi
Chicago, Illinois
“A Compass for Ariadne”
Felicity Sheehy
Princeton, New Jersey
“Mole Elegy”
Samantha Smith
Berea, Kentucky
“Blame It on Hormones”
Julie Cadwallader Staub
South Burlington, Vermont
“In the Woods”
Ingrid Wendt
Eugene, Oregon
“What They Saw on Their Weekly River Walk, Taking Turns Pushing His Chair”
Christopher Whitney
Chula Vista, California
“Looking for Answers”
FICTION
Benjamin Chappelow
Oak Ridge, North Carolina
“Vehicle”
Julie Fisher
Hawley, Massachussetts
“Death and the Maiden”
Cory Fryling
Ontario, Canada
“From Salt and Sand”
Katie Garner
Santa Ana, California
“The Collective Amnesia of Tommy Nguyen”
Jim Gish
Arcanum, Ohio
“Wandering Boy”
Blue Guidal
Brooklyn, New York
“One Hundred and Twenty Years of Remembrance”
Ronald Jackson
Durham, North Carolina
“God’s Waiting Room”
Hilary Kretchmer
Rancho Mirage, California
“Pony Queen”
Anna Lapera
Silver Spring, Maryland
“Land of Grillos”
Chad Merritt
Ridgeville, North Carolina
“The Eighth Ballad of Ivan von Blum”
G.M. Monks
Hermitage, Pennsylvania
“A Simple Misdemeanor”
A.F. Ore
Missoula, Montana
“My Dad and Me”
Jessie Payne
Woodcote, Great Britain
“Finding Annie Prudence”
Miriam Polli
Alexandria, Virginia
“Agothos”
Bryce Pope
Queens, New York
“What Is Progress?”
Misha Rai
Sewanee, Tennessee
“The Same Stick Twice”
John Rex
Royersford, Pennsylvania
“The Horse”
Leslie A. Rodd
San Francisco, California
“A Masterpiece Song from the Loony Bin”
Morgan Smith
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Messenger of God”
Roderick Townley
Leawood, Kansas
“The Invitation”
FLASH FICTION
Latifa Ayad
Kalamazoo, Michigan
“Octopus Heart”
Amy Beeder
Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Messing with Snakes”
Partridge Boswell
Woodstock, Vermont
“The Escape Artist”
Aubrey Casterline
Los Angeles, California
“Buzzing Magnets”
Kenneth Chung
Los Angeles, California
“The Fireman”
Walden Corcoran
Valley Glen, California
“Flesh of the Egg”
Lauren Domagas
Pleasanton, California
“Egg White”
Clare Gardner
Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Exigua”
Adelaide Guth
Crofton, Maryland
“Hollow Bones”
Porter Huddleston
Fort Collins, Colorado
“White Christmas”
Ashish Kaul
Navi Mumbai, India
“The Talking Eyes of a Mute Kashmir”
Seraphine Lai
Singapore
“Daddy Dearest”
Jacquelyn Learn
Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
“An Empty Room”
Christina Loraine
Bradley, Illinois
“The Cloud Collector”
Margarita Meyendorff
High Falls, New York
“What We Wore”
Carla Myers
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
“You Too Can Make a Golem!”
Wendy Ralph
Estero, Florida
“It’s Your Party”
Mark Rhodes
Simpsonville, South Carolina
“Not Believing in Things Past”
Aline Soules
Danville, California
“The Dress
Yiru Zhang
Nanjing, China
“The Perfect Match”
NONFICTION
Coming Soon!
— Honorable Mentions —
POETRY
Paula C. Brancato
Bronx, New York
“XOX”
Carol Flake Chapman
Austin, Texas
“The Cost of a Poem”
Cathleen Cohen
Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
“Blue As Any Sky”
Dale Cottingham
Edmond, Oklahoma
“Missive From My Commute”
Robert Daseler
Pasadena, California
“A Climber’s Guide”
Brennan DeFrisco
Beaverton, Oregon
“Poem in which the Heart Becomes a Garden”
Kim Farrar
Astoria, New York
“The Brass Tag”
Martha Fowler
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
“Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman”
Kate Kingston
Trinidad, Colorado
“Poets in el Desierto”
Marcia B. Loughran
Astoria, New York
“Ask For a Friend Who Can Fish”
Rekha Mehra
Washington, D.C.
“Shortchanging the Next Occupants”
Liza Porter
Tucson, Arizona
“The perfection of everything”
Mitch Rayes
Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Grace”
Ricardo Ruiz
Seattle, Washington
“Don’t Speak Spanish to My Puppy”
Jacob Skinner
Madera, California
“Midsummers”
FICTION
Mir Arif
Columbus, Ohio
“Heaven”
Marcus Carbo
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“#CellLife”
Mark Connelly
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“Inside Man”
Hongyi Duan
Baltimore, Maryland
“Three and a Half Lives of a Ferrari”
Grace Glass
Frederick, Maryland
“Baseball”
Robert Goodwin
South Windsor, Connecticut
“The Lost Cause”
Marc Hequet
St. Paul, Minnesota
“Hoodoo”
Solomon Jessie
Edinburgh, Great Britain
“Liquid”
Prabha Kannan
Los Altos, California
“Facial Recognition”
Elina Kumra
Sunnyvale, California
“Other Impossible Things”
Aren LeBrun
South Portland, Maine
“A World of Wet & Wild Fun”
Kate Levin
New York City, New York
“Food Fight”
John Park
Grove City, Pennsylvania
“Christmas Sale”
John Swartz
Brattleboro, Vermont
“Getting Signal”
Yiru Zhang
Nanjing, Canada
“Dancing at the End of the World”
FLASH FICTION
Erin Chun
New Hyde Park, New York
“The Return”
Sam Clare
Madison, Connecticut
“House of Haunted Mirrors”
John Foley
Rockville, Maryland
“Divorce is My Way into Your Heart”
Nyanka Joseph
Elizabeth, New Jersey
“Spongos The Love Fungus”
Monda Kelley
Brandon, Vermont
“Sara and the Wallet”
Timothy Lord
Bloomington, Illinois
“Handing the Baton”
Grace Murphy
Stoneham, Massachusetts
“This or Then”
Liza Porter
Tucson, Arizona
“Inpatient Treatment #1”
Holly Redell-Witte
Bellingham, Washington
“Astrological Prediction”
Claire Robinson
St. Petersburg, Florida
“All About Fae”
LaVie Saad
Marina Del Rey, California
“Lord of the Fireflies”
Morgan Smith
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“A Blizzard in August”
Danielle Stonehirsch
Silver Spring, Maryland
“The Language of Space”
Fran Turner
Toronto, Canada
“Mustard Blues”
Lauren K Watel
Decatur, Georgia
“Mud”
NONFICTION
Coming Soon!