FICTION Judge: Jean Kwok
First place: “The Right Kind” by Monika Gupta - University Place, WA
Monika Gupta’s work has been featured in the New York Times Modern Love at 13 project. Her short story “Baby Arjun” won first prize in So to Speak’s Fiction Competition. She is a reader for Bellevue Literary Review and a former Vice President of Marketing at a cybersecurity startup.
Judge: “The Right Kind is a compassionate, complex exploration of family ties and the bonds of race, class and culture. Subtlety and humor illuminate the story. I can’t wait to see how this talented writer will develop.”
Read Monika's comments about "The Right Kind"
Second place: “The Golden Spiral” by Sarah Van Arsdale - New York, NY and Oaxaca, Mexico
Sarah Van Arsdale is a fiction writer, poet, and artist. She is the author of four books of fiction, including Toward Amnesia and Blue, which won the Peter Taylor Prize, and three books of poetry, including Taken and the forthcoming Catch and Release. She is assistant director of the Ferro-Grumley Awards in LGBTQ Fiction and teaches creative writing in the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University.
Judge: “The Golden Spiral is remarkable for its sophisticated rendering of character and story. The author smoothly draws us into the protagonist’s world, moving easily between cultures, languages, and time.”
Third place: “Shelter in Place” by Brittany Smith - Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
Britt Smith is a writer and creative writing coach. Her short stories have been published in the Humber Literary Review, Broken Pencil magazine, and the literary journals Pithead Chapel and Echolocation among others. She’s currently working on a novel.
Judge: “In Shelter in Place, I was arrested by the insightful narrator’s use of poignant details that make each character come to life. The thoughtful, intelligent writing is a joy.”
NONFICTION Judge: Laila Halaby
First place: “Unfinished Foxes” by Lindsey Pharr - Alexander, NC
Lindsey Pharr’s work has appeared in SmokeLong Quarterly, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, Longleaf Review, and elsewhere. She is pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction through the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University.
Judge: “Unfinished Foxes is an utterly unique examination of abuse that draws unexpected parallels from the public, historic, and natural world. The author’s voice is both brave and vulnerable, her writing and pacing polished, consistent, and accessible.”
Read an excerpt from "Unfinished Foxes"
Second place: “El Salvador, 1986” by Sterling Vinson - Tucson, AZ
Sterling Vinson is the author of A Southern Story: Family and Race, 1650-2021. He graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in Classics, and after military service, earned a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He did field work in southern Italy and taught at several universities, including the University of Arizona. He taught Humanities and Art History at Pima Community College. He volunteered with the Sanctuary Movement and Humane Borders.
Judge: “El Salvador, 1986 is a diary-like reflection that bears witness and exudes honesty. It is a well-written and interesting account that is well-paced, and relevant, with the author inserting himself just enough to show us the stark paradox between observer and observed.”
Third place: “Extraordinary Alien” by Yao Xiao - New York, NY
Yao Xiao, writer and artist, is the author of the graphic novel Everything Is Beautiful, and I’m Not Afraid, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Literary Hub and elsewhere. Her work has been recognized by the Ignatz Award, Define American Fellowship, and Think!Chinatown Artist Residency. She is working on a book of essays about becoming an artist as a first-generation immigrant from China. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College.
Judge: “Extraordinary Alien is an honest and vulnerable telling of the author’s multi-part journey toward taking charge of their life. Their accounting of a personal life under often absurd public demands and scrutiny is interesting and funny, recounted in evocative and lovely writing.”
POETRY Judge: Tim Z. Hernandez
First place: “Immolation and other poems” by Sean Webb - Wilkes-Barre, PA
Sean Webb is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a past Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His many honors include fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Utah Arts Council. He won the Asheville Poetry Review William Matthews Poetry Prize and the Gemini Magazine Poetry Open. His poems have appeared in many journals including the North American Review and Prairie Schooner. He is the author of the chapbooks What Cannot Stay Small Forever and The Constant Parades.
Judge: “This is a poet with one hand on the back of this hard world, and the other hand stirring the pot so that poetry can create dialogue in a larger context. Poetic prowess aside, the poems here begin and end with rebellion, with darkness and stark rejections, with the renouncing of status quo, and other avenues of deep thought balanced with beautiful imagery. I was wholly engrossed by this small collection.”
Read an excerpt from Sean Webb's winning entry
Second place: “Christmas Slippers and other poems” by Lynne Ellis - Mercer Island, WA
Lynne Ellis is co-editor of Papeachu Press, supporting the voices of women and nonbinary creators. They are the recipient of the Missouri Review’s Perkoff Prize and the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize. Her poems appear in many beloved journals and anthologies, including the North American Review and Poetry Northwest.
Judge: “The poems in this collection are deceptively simple, and yet, once the reader is pulled in by the subject it’s nearly impossible to look away. The bold honesty and daring vulnerability in these pieces are what captured my attention. It felt conversational and rich, like real talk with a best friend.”
Third place: “Tia Rebuilds Her House as She Snores, and other poems” by Purvi Shah - Brooklyn, NY
Purvi Shah is the author of Miracle Marks and Terrain Tracks. She won a SONY South Asian Social Service Excellence Award for her leadership fighting violence against women. During the 10th anniversary of 9/11, with Kundiman, she directed Together We Are New York, a community-based poetry project amplifying Asian American voices.
Judge: “I appreciated the historical aspect of these poems, and the poet’s attention to the larger community within the given subjects. Also, the free verse and sprawling style of the poems really gave the whole a sense of rhythm and lyricism that I found enjoyable, which was consistent throughout.”
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