FICTION
AWARD: “Museum of Lota Smith” by Wilson R. M. Taylor
Wilson R. M. Taylor is a poet and writer. His work appears in Every Day Fiction, an anthology from Wising Up Press, and a few other journals and magazines. He is on the shortlist for the 2024 Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize. He is currently seeking representation for his first novel.
HONORABLE MENTION: “Waking the Legend” by K. S. Dearsley
K. S. Dearsley has had numerous stories published on both sides of the Atlantic. Her novel, Discord's Shadow, the third in the fantasy series The Exiles of Ondd, is available on Amazon at http://www.tinyurl.com/exiles-of-ondd. Find out more at http://www.ksdearsley.com.
FLASH FICTION
AWARD: “Cowgirl's Calling” by Cameron Edrich
Cameron Edrich is a poet and writer currently living in Austin, Texas. They write on topics such as love, family, and identity. When not writing, you can find them swimming in a lake or eating dry cereal.
HONORABLE MENTION: “Revolver Rita First Look” by Mandira Pattnaik
Mandira Pattnaik is a former contributor to Bacopa Literary Review. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in IHLR, Emerson Review, The Rumpus and SAND Journal, among others. Visit her at mandirapattnaik.com.
CREATIVE NONFICTION
AWARD: “Reenchanted” by Angela Townsend
Angela Townsend is the Development Director at Tabby’s Place: a Cat Sanctuary. She graduated from Princeton Seminary and Vassar College. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Arts & Letters, Chautauqua, Pleiades, Terrain.org, and The Westchester Review, among others. She is a Best Spiritual Literature nominee.
HONORABLE MENTION: “Bones Within and Without: An Ode to the Wild Dead” by Marisca Pichette
Marisca Pichette is a queer author based in Massachusetts. Find more of her work in The Razor, Door is a Jar, Room Magazine, and others. Her Bram Stoker and Elgin Award-nominated poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is out now from Android Press.
FORMAL POETRY
AWARD: "Nothing Else Matters" by Sherre Vernon
Sherre Vernon is the award-winning author of Green Ink Wings, The Name is Perilous, and Flame Nebula, Bright Nova. Sherre has been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, and anthologized in Fat & Queer and Best Small Fictions. She teaches creative writing and composition.
HONORABLE MENTION: "Let Your Shadows Lengthen on the Sundials" by Andrew Alexander Mobbs
Andrew Alexander Mobbs (he/him/his) is the author of the chapbook, Strangers and Pilgrims (Six Gallery Press, 2013). A Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems have appeared/are forthcoming in Terrain.org, Frontier Poetry, Arkansas Review, and other solid publications. He's the co-founding editor of Nude Bruce Review.
FREE VERSE POETRY
AWARD: "Things that Remind Me of Birds" by Desiree Remick
Desiree Remick (she/her) is a creative writing student at Southern Oregon University and the fiction editor of Nude Bruce Review. Her debut short story was the runner-up for the 2020 Chester B. Himes Memorial Short Fiction Prize. Her work has also appeared in Unlost, the Ekphrastic Review, and MockingHeart Review.
HONORABLE MENTION: “Sunrise in Future Goma without Roaming Bullets” by Eniola Arowolo
Eniola Arowolo is a writer from Nigeria. A Pushcart and BoTN nominee, he was shortlisted for the Inaugural Chukwuemeka Akachi Prize, and currently serves as a Poetry Contributing Editor for Barren Magazine. His works have appeared in 2024 Small Fictions anthology, The Republic, 4faced Liar, Temz Review, ANMLY, and elsewhere.
VISUAL POETRY
AWARD: "The Liberator" by Rebecca Loggia
Rebecca Loggia’s work has appeared in the Santa Clara Review, Allegory Ridge, and elsewhere. Her poem "Infirmary" placed third in the Phoenix Sister Cities 2017 Writers with Disabilities Competition. She is a reader for CRAFT and a Teaching Artist for the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
HONORABLE MENTION: "The Breakup" by C. Maris Bounds
C. Maris Bounds is an English PhD student at the University of Southern Mississippi with a focus on creative writing. She enjoys reading Jane Austen, writing out her feelings, and grading papers.
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Thank you to everyone who submitted to this year's contest. Stay tuned for our upcoming journal release reading!
