As if reading the astonishing entries submitted by our writing community were not enough reward, at the end of the judging process we experience the incomparable joy of publishing new works of literature, and helping to bring these wonderful creations to new readers. We wish to acknowledge our indebtedness and gratitude to our entrants for entrusting their work to us. We understand that creating new work, and sending it out into the world, requires immense courage. To everyone who submitted, thank you.
To our readers, please know that each and every one of our winning entries moved us deeply, whether to tears or laughter (or both), and they usually make the hairs on arms stand up too: We wish the same joyous and fulfilling reading experience for you.
Winners
Short Fiction
- Sarah Leonhardt – Forgotten Conversation
- Megan Bidmead – Have You Considered Returning To The Office
- Vienna Folliard – Ned’s Tale
Unpublished Books
Nonfiction
Poetry
- Rebecca Loggia – How to combine your medical records in a way That makes sense
- John Peter Beck – The Fabric
- Tim Shore – The anti ice cream van
Shortlist
Short Fiction
- Sophie Hoss – Vagabond Cain
- James O’Meara – Fishing
- Mary Francis – The interview
- Lucy Holden – 5.5 Acres of Grass
- Alicia Underlee Nelson – Cherries
- Donald Larson – Shark Soup
- Brad Gyori – Riptide Queen
- Angus McLinn – Harvest
- Jack Baillie – First Day of School
- Joshua Beggs – The Last McDonald’s
- Heddi Siebel – Under Questioning, A Young Tree Laments
- Roberts Jekabsons – South of the Tracks
- Asa Rubin – Dusk
- Penny Newcombe – Moth Wings
- Roger Hart – Connections
- John Doble – The Gift
Unpublished Books
- Von Wise – Celebrity Poems
- Wayne Mayfield – Destination Unknown
- Alex Stanley – The Thing Abandoned
- Ashish Kaul – The Mermaid of Kali Yug
- Sherri Matthews – Fault Line
- Alice Pohle – The Fishwife’s Fury
- Scott Rossi – Hemingway’s Depression
- Michael Nikitin – Blind Rat
- Richard Fellinger – An American Girl
- Lenore Hart – Labyrinthos
- Annie Dawid – The Closer You Were, the Less You Knew, and Other Stories
- Michael Serby – The Matter of the Relic
- Sarah P. Blanchard – Drawn from Life
- Vincent Stoia – Little Fox
Nonfiction
- Uma Kukathas – Demon Slayers
- Trelaine Ito – Texting with a Ghost
- Joshua Forehand – The Body Snatching Spell of Bipolarism
- Carolyn Mikulencak – The Unquiet Grave
- Richard Orodenker – V-Mail
Poetry
- Jennifer M Phillips – Fresh Steps On Snow
- Robin Percyz – Expiration Date
- Pumpkin Vine – Laurie Keim
- Emma Murf – is this anything?
- Hunter Maguire – leaf piles
- Suzanna C. de Baca – The Camino
- Elaine Desmond – Still Life with Walker
- Robert Eugene Rubino – Waiting for Bardot (1965)