Writing Contest Winners
Click each title to download the work in PDF format.
2024
Poetry
First Prize, “The sparrows” by Gillian Copeland
Second Prize, “Tender” by Kathlyne Cook
Short Story
First Prize, “Playing House” by Dionne White
Second Prize, “Celina” by Zander Majors
2023
Poetry
First Prize, “six of five” by Jules Holzbauer
Second Prize, “Mourning Coffee” by Jay Newfield
Short Story
First Prize, “The River Keeps Healing” by Evelyn Larson
Second Prize, “The Butterfly Dancer” by Zander Majors
2022
Poetry
First Place: "Cottonwood" by Sophia Alvarez
Second Place: "I close my eyes and dream" by Markeesha Dean
Short Story
First Place: "Ephemeral Lilies" by Evelyn Larson
Second Place: "Nightmare" by Alexa Falleur
2021
Poetry
First Place: "Domestic Violence" by Jessica Walter
Short Story
First Place: "Your Door was Open" by Sam Cooper
2019
Poetry
First Place: "The Creek" by Paighton Johnson
Second Place: "Blue" by Anna Graves
Short Story
First Place: "The Fight Within" by Anna Graves
Second Place: "Personal Narrative" by Taylor Sturtevant
2018
Poetry
First Place: "A Disturbing Contribution" by Martin Wind
Second Place: "My Journey as Hawk" by Colleen Cooper
Short Story
First Place: "The Beginning" by Amanda Bueno
2017
Poetry
First Place: "Trouble They Say" by Dawn Martin-Young
Second Place: "The Only Boy in New York" by Laura Grace Grafham Knapp
Short Story
First Place: "1985" by Erik Dewey
Second Place: "Home is Where the Heart is" by Caitlin Campbell
2016
Poetry
First Place: "Western Wisdom" by Hannah McCage
Second Place: "The Defeatist" by Jamie Kirby
Short Story
First Place: "Lord Avalon's Book" by Tara Rittler
Second Place: "The Death of a Gun" by Raymond P. Akin III
2015
Poetry
First Place: "The Snowbird" by Yan Xu
Second Place: "Holiday Card" by Tamara Keane
Third Place: "For T and Her Mother" by Hanna Al-Jibouri
Short Story
First Place: "Simulacra and Manifestation" - John Dixon
Second Place: "Lost" by Lacey Haynie
Third Place: "The Ancients" by Jason Hart
2014
Poetry
First Place: “1x1 Lego” by Ambra King
Second Place: “No Home” by Hanna Al-Jibouri
Third Place: “Dear Future Self” by Daniel Dunlap
Short Story
First Place: “A Fair” by Matthew Pascucci
Second Place: “The Sun is Gone/But I Have a Light” by John Gabriel
Third Place: “A Plate of Eggs” by Cynthia DePalma
2013
Poetry
First Place –“Echoes” by Janie Schatz
Second Place –“Life Without End” by Yvette Wiley
Third Place – “Moments” by Alexandria Trahan
Short Story
First Place – “Christmas Morning” by Sabrina Hall
Second Place – “But You Don’t See Me” by Alysha Glasser
Third Place – “Elise” by Phoenix Williams
2012
Poetry
First Place – "Untitled" by Dionne White
Second Place – "Technology: A Puppeteer" by Tabitha Fleming
Short Story
First Place – "The Mary Purse" by Marian McCarthy
Second Place – "An Ordinary Day" by Cliff A. Aldridge
2011
Poetry
First Place – "November" by Kim Meigs
Second Place – "108 S-t-i-t-c-h-e-s" by Willard Jacob Cornwell
Short Story
First Place – "The Bet's to You" by Aaron Kyle Jarman
Second Place – "Las Tres Maldiciones de Rick Castillo" by Joey DeLeon
2010
Poetry
First Place – "Dashes to Dashes, Rust to Rust" by Willard Jacob Cornwell
Second Place – "Goddess" by Confidence Omenai
Third Place – "Small-town Fair" by Chad Little
Short Story
First Place – "Mystique" by JL Greer
Second Place – "Jack the Dreamwalker" by Jonathan Beck
2009
Poetry
First Place – "Sanctuary" by Colleen Reyes
Second Place – "Blue S(k)in" by Sterling Ellsworth
Short Story
First Place – "To Forget" by Chantal Walker
Second Place – "Children Don't Get Headaches" by Rebecca Emmons
2008
Undergraduate Poetry
First Place – “Red Wing Blackbird” by Marie Peterson
Second Place – “Weathered Beauty” by Jana Bendinelli
Undergraduate Short Story
First Place – “Tainted Blood” by Stephanie White
Second Place – “Cherry Pie” by Charles Joseph Rodriguez
Graduate Poetry
First Place – “I Am From . . .” by Lori E. Weatherholtz
2007
Undergraduate Poetry
First Place: “I’m a Fat Girl” by Tanisha Alexander
Second Place: “Coyote” by Michael Champlin
Undergraduate Short Story
First Place: “Spirits in the Dark” by Stephanie White
Second Place: “The Cow” by Charles Rodriguez
Graduate Short Story
First Place: “Talla the Dog” by Brian Cross
Second Place: “Drunk Indun” by Trygve Jorgensen