Ekphrastic Poetry Contest

Winner: Jeanette Lynes, for "1979"

Honorable Mention: Jacques Rancourt, for "Crossed Signals"

Finalists:

Joshua Garcia, for "Self-Portrait as Three Archetypal Media Images"

torrin a. greathouse, for "Bondage Device: Cross"

Brett Hanley, for "Bondage Device: Meat Hoist

2021 Literary Award Winners 

Poetry: torrin a. greathouse, for “On Possession,” “T4T”, and “As My English Class Debates the Legality of Gay Marriage I Daydream of the Boy I Am Beginning to Fall in Love With” (judge: Tommye Blount)

Honorable mentions: 
Taylor Byas, for “Shutter,” and “When I Say No, The Joker Smiles”
Kyle Carrero Lopez, for “Charge It to the Game,” and “Unmissable”

Creative Nonfiction: Laura Haugen, for "Song for the Missing" (judge: Beth Kephart)

Honorable mentions: 
Kim Diaz, for “People Change Sometimes”
Ark Ramsay, for "In My Warming Body (for you, Ava)"

Fiction: Tom Howard, for “The Long Shadows” (judge: Gabriela Garcia)

Honorable mention: Alan Sincic, for “The Claim”

2020 Literary Award Winners 

Poetry: Danielle Williams, for “A Walk on June 19,” “fa’ñague /fuh-nyah-ghee/”, and “Gospel” (judge: Jennifer Givhan)

Honorable mentions: 
Cate Lycurgus, for “Better & Worse,” “[I cannot bear]” and “Some Days”
Patrick Wilcox, for “What We Talk About,” “North Bay Village,” “What We Once Knew,” “Cellar Door,” and “One Last Odd Song”

Creative Nonfiction: Anna Winham, for “my mother // itch” (judge: Steve Tomasula)

Honorable mentions: 
Michelle LaCrosse, for “Sacrifice”
Emi Nietfeld, for "My Economist"
Stephanie Pushaw, for “A Really Good Place”
Erica Stern, for “The Soft Parts”
Joseph Truscello, for “Fantasy Land”

Fiction: Alida Dean, for “The Off Season” (judge: Kimberly King Parsons)

Honorable mention: Tom Howard, for “Disappearing Act”

2019 Literary Award Winners

Fiction: Stephanie Wong Ken, for "Beating Heart" (Judge: Kristen Arnett)

Poetry: John Sibley Williams, for "Dark Tourist"; and "The Drowning House" (Judge: R. A. Villanueva)
Honorable Mentions: Shawn Fawson, for "Spring" and Jared Harel, for "Final Kindness"

Creative Nonfiction: Maddie Norris, for "Still Hearts" (Judge: Anna Leahy)
Honorable Mentions: Rhianna Brandt, for "Bottle, Beloved, and Book"; Michael William Palmer, for "The Archivists"; and
Courtney Kersten, for "The Ergonomics of Loss"

2018 Literary Award Winners

Poetry: Zachary Hester, "Variations on a Theme by Oppenheimer"; Coda Atop Wells-Fargo, Over the Bronze Mountain Lion in Boulder, CO"; and "Priscilla Huggable Atomic Mushroom" (Judge: Sam Sax)
           Honorable Mention: Garrett Sanford, "O. unilateralis" and Teresa Dzieglewicz, "By the Numbers: 1"

Fiction: Pascha Sotolongo Stevenson, "The Moth" (Judge: Michele Morano)
           Honorable Mention: Amina Gautier, "Love Me Through a Hurricane" and Chetna Maroo, "Father's Work"

Creative Nonfiction: Ashley Farmer, "Animal Hours" (Judge: Elissa Washuta)
           Catina Bacote, "Up North

2017 Literary Award Winners

Poetry: Erin Rodoni, "Lullaby with Fireflies and Rising Seas" (Judge: Lo Kwa Mei-en)
           Runner up: Shawn Fawson, "Cloudlands"

Fiction: Cady Vishniac, "Drill" (Judge: Rachel Cantor)
           Runner up: Micah Dean Hicks, "Missing in the City of the Wind"
           Runner up: Gwen Cullen, "The Little Sisters of the Dissent"

Creative Nonfiction: Ellyn Gaydos, "Summer of Love" (Judge: Kathleen Rooney)
           Runner up: Nina Yun, "Half Speak"

2016 Literary Award Winners

Poetry: Brandon Rushton, Five Poems  (Judge: Tarfia Faizullah)
      Honorable Mentions: Jim Whiteside, Anne Champion

Fiction: Megan Cummins, "The Beast" (Judge: Roy Kesey)

Creative Nonfiction: Anna Leahy, "Marrying Absurd" (Judge: Sue William Silverman)
   

2015 Literary Award Winners

Poetry: Corey Van Landingham, "In the Year of No Sleep" (Judge: Kathy Fagan)
       Runners Up: Rachael E. Katz, "All About Flash"
                          Monica Sok, "Here Is Your Name"

Fiction: Kristen N. Arnett, "See also: A history of glassmaking" (Judge: Jac Jemc)
        Runner Up: Zach Vandezande, "Status Updates"

Creative Nonfiction: Michael Gracey, "My Own Good Daemon" (Judge: Matthew Gavin Frank)
        Runner Up: Julie Marie Wade, "The Regulars"

2014 Literary Award Winners

Poetry: Anders Carlson-Wee, "The Low Passions" and "Dynamite" (Judge: Traci Brimhall)

Fiction: Rachel Goldman, "Steps" (Judge: Matt Bell)

Literature in Translation: Nansorhon Ho, "Poem Given to a Nun While Staying in a Taoist Monastery" translated by Ian Haight (Judge: G. J. Racz)

Creative Nonfiction: Nicholas Neely, "The Book of Agate" (Judge: Ander Monson) (download the pdf)

2013 Literary Award Winners

poetry: R. A. Villanueva, "Aftermaths" and "Sacrum" (Judge: G. C. Waldrep)

Fiction: Caitlin O'Neill, "The Change Over Day" (Judge: Margot Livesey)

Literature in Translation: Shen Wei, A Dictionary of Xinjiang (excerpt), translated by Eleanor Goodman (Judge: Alexis Levitin

Creative Nonfiction: Jessica Wilbanks, "On the Far Side of the Fire" (Judge: Lia Purpura)