We are enormously excited to announce the winners of The Letter Review Prize (March – April 2024) in the categories of Short Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Unpublished Books.
Once again, we were astonished by the extraordinary quality of the submissions received. There is a vast number of talented writers submitting to contests, who submit writing at a professional standard: Our only regret while judging this award is that we are able to publish so few.
Each round there are a large number of entries worthy of winning our Prize, but there are always a special few that win us over completely, and irresistibly. We feel immensely honored to be entrusted with unpublished writing, and the joy of bringing wonderful writing to a reading audience for the first time is almost incomparable.
While reading our Short Fiction category we were especially impressed this round with the number of entries that appeared to capture the zeitgeist profoundly while offering valuable, timely, and incisive social commentary.
Our Unpublished Books category again bowled us over with the variety of work submitted. The poetry entries in this round seemed particularly able to tug on our heartstrings with timely and worthy explorations, delivered with utmost brevity and verve. The nonfiction submissions are always educative, in the most entertaining and satisfying fashion.
To our entrants, we thank you again for the honor of reading your work. If you are an entrant awaiting feedback on this round, the judges are working hard to finish their notes, and the finalized comments will be sent out over the coming weeks.
To our readers, we hope you approve of the literary smorgasbord this round of The Letter Review Prize offers. We will publish the winning entries over the coming weeks. We hope you enjoy!
Short Fiction
Winners
- Debra Waters – On Leaving
- Caitlin Carpenter – It’s Me, Mother
- Frank Haberle – Only That You Remember Me
Shortlist
- Sara Winslow – Sketch
- Elaine Lee – Sonder
- Ruth MacLean – No One Must Know
- Adrian Carswell – Ruru
- Chelsey Waters – Second Thoughts
- Kristen Moraine – The Good Doctor
- Anne Meale – Do You Think We Continue?
- Beth Colburn Orozco – Pajama Man
- Holly Flannaghan – The Draft
- Giovanni Zenati – Oh! Susanna
- Ariel Gurevich – Prayer for the Dead
- Jared Sebastian – Mania: An Incomplete History
- Kathy Vo – Partners In Misery
- Barry Kitterman – Syncopated
- Kristen Moraine – Give Me Some Light
Unpublished Books
Winners
- Colette Lawlor – Peninsular
- Luna Campos – The Season of the Wolf
- David Allen – Graemist
Shortlist
- Omar Shaker – Healthy People, Sick Society: How to achieve your dreams without sacrificing your health
- Emily Breunig – Required Materials
- Jehan Unwala – The King’s Line
- Brian Belefant – Egregious
- Immanuel Suttner – Shorts
- Peter Randazzo – American Ash Pile
- Julie Benesh – Flyover Girls
- Hilary Hudgins – Pretzel
- Mic Farris – LOCAL DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: On Elections in Thousand Oaks
- Marc Laton – Econophilia
- Ellie Burton – Dreams, Declarations and Dealing with the Mortifyingly Devastating and Overwhelming Weight of Being Morbidly Conscious
- Jacob Reid – Fatal Routes
- Jackson Connor – Barely American
- Chris Duggan – Water from the Moon
- Jerry Dye – Island Wars
- Bethany Skipper – Wronged
- Christopher Watson – Stray
- Brooks Bebon – In Search of an Exit
- Jill Martin – Variations on Jenny
- Dana Jaye Cadman – Castles of Salt
- Robert Jakub Nelmark – The Finlander
- Carol Dines – All Together Once
- Margherita Bassi – Shadow Dancing
- Karen Jersild – Hold Her Ground
- Caitie Finlayson – A Time for Hate
- Debra Rose Brillati – The House of Many Doors: A Memoir of Family
- Jamie Stewart – The Ascension – I Do
- Whitnee Coy – this deep, wide, dark world
- Stacey Campbell – New Madrid’s Fault
Poetry
Winners
- Virginia Sullivan – To His Mother
- Damen O’Brien – Cause and Effect
- Colette Lawlor – Winter 2023
Shortlist
- Walter Weinschenk – Where They Go
- Stefan David Martin – Son of the Morning
- Éadbhard Ó Duinn – Shoreline Psalms IX
- Sandra Fees – Firing
- Emily Davis-Fletcher – Your Extinct Friend
- R Rice – Narrows
- Jackson Mills Smith – Alfalfa Druids
- Akis Parodis – Closing In
Nonfiction
Winners
- Emma Haworth – Hall of Mirrors
- Brian Demarest – Mourning Bells are Ringing
- Denarii Peters – The Lesson
- Axelle Clausse – Endosomething
Shortlist
- Zahra Uddin – Garment Workers in Asia
- Nancy O’Rourke – Still
- A. Leslie Craigmyle – Among the Nabateans
- Luke Lewin Davies – Donostia
- Ellen Cliggott – The Excalibur
- Lorena Otes – In Serenading Disorder
- Stephen Dean Ingram – Pirates
- Gwyneth Harold Davidson – Case for an Urban Forest for Kingston
- Fionnuala Kavanagh – Keeping up with the Catholics
- Liz Solms – Last Day on Earth
- Karen Paley – Life in a Communist Cult