Congratulations to the 2012 Able Muse Contest Winners. The Write Prize was judged by Ellen Sussman (fiction) and John Drury (poetry). The Muse Book Award was judged by Mary Jo Salter.

2012 Able Muse Write Prize

Fiction Winner
Adrianne Aron: “Random Sample”

Poetry Winner
John Beaton: “Murmuration”

Second Place
Leonard Kress

Finalists
John Beaton
Bruce Berger
Thomas Carper
Susan Cohen
Stephen Harvey
Susan McLean
Richard Meyer
Jeanne Wagner
Sarah White

2012 Able Muse Book Award

Winner
Frank Osen: Virtue, Big as Sin

Finalists
Sass Brown: USA-1000
Ellen Kaufman: House Music
Carol Light: Heaven from Steam
Richard Newman: All the Wasted Beauty of the World
Stephen Scaer: Pumpkin Chucking

Open Minds Quarterly print their Fall 2012 issue with the honorable mentions of the Brainstorm Poetry Contest, which was held in early 2012. The Spring 2012 issue includes the first, second, and third place winners (D. Brian Anderson’s “To Sylvia Plath,” Donald W. Boyles “To My Father,” and Kristina Morgan’s “Excerpt from Shade“).

Honorable Mentions

Andrew Boden: “Ladybugs, Electric”

April Bulmer: “Reta”

D. Brian Anderson: “Moving Day”

Ruminate Magazine‘s winter issue features the winners of the Kalos Foundation Visual Art Prize. The juror, Bruce Herman, said he was “impressed by the consistently high quality” of all the entries. “In the end,” he says, “I had to go with a gut-level set of choices—a visceral response based upon forty years as a practitioner and professor of art. I attempted to choose the three winning artists from the different stylistic and theoretical contexts represented in the fifteen finalists.”

First Place
Laura Hennessy
(one piece from her collection is featured to the right, courtesy of laura-hennessy.squarespace.com)

Second Place
Zacheriah Kramer

Honorable Mention
James Hapke

Finalists
Jason Ackman
Stephen Mead
Susan Hart
Austin Parkhill
Sueme Jeon
Julie Quinn
Frank Krifka
Sue Gyeong Syn
Olga Lah
Crystal Wagner
Evan Mann
Derek Wagner

Writing in the issue comes from Richard Cole, Michelle Regaldo Deatrick, Joshua Robbins, Kathleen Henderson Staudt, Kait Burrier, Mary Jo Balistreri, Julie Hensley, David Oestreich, Renee Emerson, Don Thompson, Scott Cameron, Luci Shaw, Diane Scholl, Joey Locicero, Jean Tucker, Heather M. Surls, Shannon Skelton, Paul Stapleton, and Linda McCullough Moore.

SRPR (Spoon River Poetry Review) puts out the Winter 2012 issue with the winning selections from the 2012 Editors’ Prize. The judge, David Baker, writes that the winning poem is “both of subtle depth and overt wit, managing the difficult combination admirably throughout its forty-five lines.”

First Place
William Stobb: “A Moment for Authentic Shine”

Runner-Up
Sarah Sousa: “The way you don’t have to see”

Honorable Mention
Aviva Englander Cristy: “The Accuracy of String and Measure”
Anna Marie Craighead-Kintis: “Honky”
Veronica Patterson: “The Etymology of Intersect”

The issue also showcases new work by the featured poet, Linda Gregerson, followed by an interview with her. Other contributors include Michele Battiste, Joanna Cattonar, Stephen Massimilla, Gabriel Gudding, Jack Collom, John Fenlon Hogan, Jennifer Militello, Laynie Browne, Gabriel Welsch, Jonathan Skinner, Tyler Mills, Cynthia Cruz, and more.

Mid-American Review‘s most recent issue features the winners of several competitions and awards:

The 2011-12 Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award
Winner: Kyle Mellen – “Lighting in You a Tremendous Fire”
Editors’ Choice: Todd Seabrook – “The Elf”

The 2011-12 James Wright Poetry Award
Winner: Sarah Rose Nordgren – “When You Are Dead”
Editors’ Choice: Jonathan Rice – Two Poems

2012 Fineline Competition
Winner: Diane Seuss – “I emptied my little wishing well of its emptiness”
Editors’ Choice: Heather Cox – Two Selections
Editors’ Choice: Richard Garcia – “The Expert”
Editors’ Choice: Lauren Jensen – “Neighbors”
Editors’ Choice: Alexandra Sadinoff – “Symmetry Majors”

The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction, established to honor Liza Nelligan, is now in its ninth year. Featured in the Colorado Review‘s Fall/Winter issue, winner Matthew Shaer’s story “Ghost” was select by the final judge Jane Hamilton. Here is what she has to say about the story:

“This story is tightly packed—it has a great deal of the characters’ history and their private and shared suffering in just eighteen pages—and yet the narrative richness is beautifully contained within the boundaries of the story form. There are so many capably written stories—a lot of writers have the hang of it—but when you come across a story that is nearly as distilled as a poem, where all the parts work together, where the language is precise and lyrical, and when the story has ‘an intense awareness of human loneliness,’ the quality that Frank O’Connor believes defines the short story—you’re likely to say, Here it is. The real thing. As I did with ‘Ghosts.'”

This issue also contains writing from Judith Adkins, Peter Balakian, Eric Baus, Hadara Bar-Nadav, Bill Capossere, Maxine Chernoff, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Elise Juska, Erin Kasdin, Alex Lemon, Edward Porter, Tomaž Šalamun, and John Yau.

The Fall 2012 issue of The MacGuffin holds a considerable amount of news within the short editor’s note. First off is the announcement of the winner for the Poet Hunt contest. The winning poem, selected by Dorianne Laux, is “Like a Scrap of Michigan Sky” by Sharron Singleton. This poem, along with the Honorable Mention poets—Sophia Rivkin and Kevin Griffin—can be read in the Winter 2013 issue.

The MacGuffin also announces that the next year’s competition will be judged by 2011-2012 Poet Laureate Philip Levine. Poems from Levine are included in this Fall issue.

And lastly, The MacGuffin welcomes three new members to its editorial staff—Ashley Rossi, Connor Armstrong, and Jeaneth Kirkpatrick. “Their enthusiasm and keen eyes and ears are already serving to select the best short fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry we receive,” writes Editor Steven Alfred Dolgin.

The Summer & Fall issue of Fugue announces the winner of the 11th Annual Ron McFarland Prize for Poetry. The judge, Rodney Jones, says that the winner, Ansel Elkins, “is a poet we are going to hear from.”

Ron McFarland Prize for Poetry

Winner: Ansel Elkins
“Real Housewives”

Finalist: David Cazden
“Midwest Suite”

Finalist: Dylan Mounts
“Bobby Solomon Found Himself the Owner of a Local Community Lawn Services Organization”

The winner of the 11th Annual Prose Prize is also included. The judge, Pam Houston, says that the winning piece is “the most ambitious of all the contest stories.” She says, “I was both surprised and convinced by the ending, which is a satisfying combination for any story. This is one ending that will stay with me.”

Fugue Prose Prize

Winner: Josie Sigler
“The Watcher in the Woods” [Fiction]

Runner-Up: Natanya Ann Pulley
“The Trickster Surfs the Floods” [Essay]

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their October Family Matters competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories about family of all configurations. The next Family Matters competition w ill take place in April. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Soma Mei Sheng Frazier [pictured], of San Leandro, CA, wins $1500 for “Everyone Is Waiting.” Her story will be published in the Spring 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Eugene Cross, of Chicago, IL, wins $500 for “Miss Me Forever.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

Third place: Sofia Ergas Groopman of New York, NY, wins $300 for “A Body, Even.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

In the fall 2012 issue of NANO Fiction, the 2012 NANO Prize is announced and printed: “Hand Over Hand” by Patrick Swaney. The judge, Ryan Call, says, “While I read several entries that struck me for their unique presentation of the form, I loved how simply and unexpectedly the turns of the winning story occurred. . . . Swaney has quickly shared with us yet another brief, awkward interaction between strangers.”

Other contributors to this issue include Selena Anderson, Garrett Ashley, Lauren Becker, S.G. Childress, Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Nicolle Elizabeth, Bryce Emley, Kendra Fortmeyer, Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, Scott Garson, Elisabeth Geier, L.P. Griffith, Elise Hunter, Simon Jacobs, Jason Joyce, Benjamin King, Kenneth Kronenberg, Emily Link, Maxim Loskutoff, Dan Lundin, Sam Martone, Rupprecht Mayer,John A. McDermott, Nicole Miller, John Poch, Alexis Pope, Michelle Reale, C. R. Resetarits, Scott Riley, Matt Sailor, Jared Yates Sexton, Patrick Swaney, Anthony Varallo, Mark Walters, Zack Wentz, A. Werner, and Gregory Zorko.

The most recent issue of Copper Nickel features the winners of their 2012 contests. Fiction was selected by Kevin Wilson, and Paisley Rekdal judged poetry.

Fiction
First Place
Anne Valente: “Dear Amelia”

Special Mention
Sarah Gerkensmeyer: “My Husband’s House”
Adam Sturtevant: “The Pretenders”

Finalists
Shabnam Nadiya: “And We Rise How We Rise”
Leslie Rakowicz: “Celia”

Poetry
First Place
Tarfia Faizullah: “Reading C

Each year, Beloit Poetry Journal awards $4,000 for the Chad Walsh Poetry Prize, honoring Chad Walsh, the cofounder in 1950. The prize this year is the gift of Alison Walsh Sackett and Paul Sackett.

The award goes to Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. for her poem “Albania” that was published in the Winter 2011/2012 issue.

Former winners include Margaret Aho, Karl Elder, Jessica Goodfellow, Mary Molinary, Lucia Perillo, Glori Simmons, Onna Solomon, and Charles Wyatt.

The most recent issue of Rattle announces and publishes the winning piece of the 2012 Rattle Poetry Prize for $5,000: Heidi Shuler’s “Trials of a Teenage Transvestite’s Single Mother.” The editors writer, “A good poem doesn’t need to impress us with sophisticated language or fresh and unexpected metaphors. It doesn’t need to rhyme or not rhyme, or explore the until-now unexplored. But a good poem does have to take us somewhere and make us feeling something. With a momentum and a sense of emotional suspense that made us hold our breath, Heidi Shuler perfectly captures the intersection of a mother’s loving fear and a teenage son’s innocence about the world.” Here are the first two stanzas of her poem:

My son’s black ruffled skirt is shorter than the straight denim one
he usually wears. We’re late for school. Don’t dawdle, I say
as he swings one leg out of the truck and then the other, far unlike

how my grandmother taught me–knees clasped, pivot at the hips,
feet land together, and stand, ladylike. Those were Iowa manners;
this is Eugene, Oregon, etiquette, twenty years later. . . .

The poetry prize finalists include Lytton Bell, John Brehm, Norma Chapman, Kim Dower, Anna Evans, Catherine Freeling, David Hernandez, Krista Lukas, M, and Kenny Williams.

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their September Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly. Stories generally range from 2000-6000 words, though up to 20,000 is fine. The next Fiction Open will take place in December. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Doug Lawson [pictured], of Los Gatos, CA, wins $2500 for “The Mushroom Hunter.” His story will be published next November in the Winter 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Meghan Kenny, of Baltimore, MD, wins $1000 for “Heartbreak Hotel.”

Third place: Andrew MacDonald, of Toronto, Ontario, wins $600 for “Four Minutes.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

The Aspens’ Writers Foundation and Esquire magazine teamed up for a Short Short Fiction Contest that awarded 10 finalists who will gather in NYC for a writing workshop taught by Colum McCann. The finalists will read their piece in front of a live audience of judges. They are also invited to “Fiction Night at the Esquire,” a celebratory party where the winner will be announced. The winner will receive full scholarship to a fiction workshop at Aspen Summer Words, Writing Retreat and Literary Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The finalists are:

Kashana Cauley | New York, NY | Avenue B
Angela Cummings | Kirkland, WA | Humane
Alex DeBonis | Paris, TN | In the Market for Heartache
Kenneth Gagnon | Dover, NH | Impact
Ivy Hansen | Carbondale, CO | To Do
Daniel McGillivray | Brooklyn, NY | Neither
Courtney Sender | Baltimore, MD | Accounting
Richard Rauch | Lacombe, LA | Devilment at the Comfort Inn
Bob Thurber | North Attleboro, MA | My Father’s Study
Casey Walker | Iowa City, IA | Picnic, Lightning

Supposedly, this is the year of the end of the world. Editor Richard Newman says, “The first books predicted the end of the world, and probably not long after, people began predicting the end of the book.” With the close of book publishers, magazines, and distributors, it’s easy to get downhearted about the situation, but Newman says he is not “singing the death song of the printed word.” He says, “Good literature will survive the trends and weather the storms and droughts, even if only a handful of people keep it alive and don’t surrender to the rapture of destruction.”

The most recent issue of River Styx is based on the theme of the end of the world. “In these pages we have presented the irrational struggle with the end of everything—our fear of the end at odds with our odd hope for it,” Newman says. Contributors include Bruce Bennett, Lee Upton, Albert Goldbarth, Juliana Gray, Gary Leising, Michael Salcman, Rachel Christilles, William Greenway, Dorianne Laux, Lawrence Raab, Alison Pelegrin, Maura Stanton, Michael Derrick Hudson, Erika Meitner, Greg Pape, Gaylord Brewer, Andrew Hudgins, Jeffrey Hammond, Robert Finch, George Singleton, and Geoff Schmidt.

In addition, the winners of the 2012 River Styx International Poetry Contest are included. The submissions were judged by A. E. Stallings, and the contest is in memory of Anne and James Lindsey.

First Place
Hailey Leithauser: “Minnows”

Second Place
Debra Marquat: “Ground Oregano”

Third Place
Brain Brodeur: “Cousins”

Honorable Mentions
Michael Derrick Hudson
Josephine Yu
Alison Pelegrin
Ryan Wilson

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their August Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will take place in November. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

1st place goes to Natalie Sypolt of Kingwood, WV [pictured]. She wins $1500 for “My Brothers and Me” and her story will be published in the Winter 2014 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out next November.

2nd place goes to Greg Schreur of Grand Rapids, MI. He wins $500 for “Third World Kroger” and his story will also be published in a future issue of Glimmer Train Stories, raising his prize to $700. This will be his first fiction to appear in print.

3rd place goes to Riley Johnson of Missoula, MT. He wins $300 for “Up the Snowy Grade.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Next deadline: Family Matters: October 31

Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place has been increased to $1500 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers for stories about families of all configurations. Most submissions to this category run 1500-6000 words, but can go up to 12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Atlanta Review announces and publishes the winners of the 2012 International Poetry Competition in their latest issue. The Grand Prize and $1,000 goes to Diana Pickney for her poem “The Artist Speaks to Her Unborn Paintings.”

The International Publication Prizes go to Dane Cervine, Susan Cohen, Sara DeLuca, Stacy Donovan, Starkey Flythe, Becky Gould Gibson, Ryan Hibbet, Margaret Hoehn, Lowell Jaeger, Donald Levering, Roy Mash, Jill McDonough, Joyce Meyers, Bonnie Naradzay, Meryl Natchez, Sherman Pearl, Marcia Popp, Wanda Praisner, Jendi Reiter, D. Wilder Roberts, Mark Steudel, Jeanne Wagner, Sarah White, and Laura Juliet Wood.

And the International Merit Awards go to Kathryn Baker, Rafaella Del Bourgo, J. David Cummings, Lynn Tudor Deming, John Flynn, Patricia Frisella, Eve Forti, Jerome Gagnon, Harriet Geller, Donald Gibson, Gayle Ellen Harvey, Ruth Hill, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Alice Owens Johnson, Richard Kenney, Steven Lautermilch, Fred Longworth, Mike Lythgoe, Gloria Materson-Richardson, Bill Meissner, Julie J. Moore, Anne Johnson Mullin, Annette Opalczynski, Carol Quinn, Jessica Bane Robert, Brook Sadler, Lisa D. Schmidt, Andrew Turco, Mark Wagenaar, and Betsy Weir.

The autumn issue, out now, of Modern Haiku includes awards for the favorite haiku, senryu, and haibun for the summer 2012 issue.

Favorite haiku: Kate Godsey

the solace of owls
wrapping the night around me
waxing moon

Favorite senryu: Bill Kenney

first date
the way she pronounces
van Gogh

Favorite haibun: “Odds” by Rich Youmans

Each poet is accorded a $50.00 award by an anonymous selector and donor.

The Fall 2012 issue of The Pinch features a section dedicated to the University of New Orleans Creative Writing Contest. Winners receive full tuition and housing at the Writing Workshops in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Fiction
Kiki Whang: “What You Need to Know About Missing Persons”

Poetry
Jill Frischhertz: “Sleep is Not an Option”

Creative Nonfiction
Anne Royan “Ten Thousand Things”

These pieces are included in the issue as well as “an interview on story craft and character development with the always spectacular Bobbie Ann Mason,” say the editors. “We’re also serving up incredible poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction from Roxane Gay, Michael Croley, Nicholas Wong, Christine Stewart, Meg Cowen, Ray McManus, Raymond Fleischmann, Christopher Kempf, Eireann Lorsung, David Roderick, Daniel Browne, William Lusk Coppage, Jax Peters Lowell, Derek Palacio, Susan Gubernat, John Vanderslice, Allison Campbell, Maria Rapoport, Traci Brimhall, Charlotte Boulay, James Crizer, Bryce Emley, Mark Jay Brewin, Jr., Helen Phillips, Brad Henderson, Harold Whit Williams, Ira Sukrungruang, Elizabeth O’Brien, Anthony Opal, Tim Hayes, Sydney Lea, and Tory Adkisson. . . . The Fall issue also features stunning visual art from Maysey Craddock, Amy Lind, Dan Ball, and Marie Porterfield.”

Camera Obscura‘s autumnal issue features the winners of the summer 2012 photography contest. Judged by Michael Gilbert, Laurie Klein, and Kerry Jordan, the Outstanding Professional Photography Award goes to Heather Evans Smith for her beautiful photo “The Midway,” which is featured on the cover of the issue as well as within the pages. Other winners include:

Outstanding Amateur Photography Award
“Into the Stream” by Hugh Jones

Editor’s Choice Award for Professional Photography
“Sewing” by Larry Louie

Editor’s Choice Award for Amateur Photography
“On the Edge” by Pierre Hauser

A complete list of the finalists for both professional and amateur photography can be seen on Camera Obscura‘s website.

Nimrod‘s “It’s in the Cards” issue features the winners and finalists of the magazine’s annual awards competition. The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction was judged by Gish Jen, and Philip Levine was the judge for the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. The following authors and their writing can be found in the most recent issue of Nimrod:

The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction
First Prize
Judith E. Johnson

Second Prize
Terrence Cheng

Finalist
L. E. Miller
Lones Seiber

The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry
First Prize
Chelsea Wagenaar

Second Prize
Linda Hillringhouse

Finalists
Judy Rowe Michaels
Rafaella Del Bourgo
Dante Di Stefano
Melissa Reider
Kristen Ingrid Hoggatt
Charles P. R. Tisdale
June Blumenson
Amy Miller
Catherine Freeling
Katharyn Howd Machan
Helen T. Glenn
Joan Colby
Rafael Alvarez
Barbara Crooker
Joan I. Siegel

Semi-Finalists
Sarah L. Stecher
Jenny McDougal
Richard Agacinski
Maud Poole
Angela Patten
Gerald McCarthy
David Cazden
Matthew J. Spireng
Rebecca Hazelton
Lisa Zerkle
Lindsay Knowlton
Josephine Yu

Honorable Mention
Scot Siegel
Markham Johnson

The winners of the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize, sponsored by Steve and Kim Franchini, are featured in the latest issue of Ruminate Magazine. Li-Young Lee, the finalist judge, comments on the winner Nicole Rollender’s poem “Necessary Work,” saying that it “is a memorable poem, powerfully realized and emotionally true. Among the many virtues that recommend it are the vivid images, as well as a complicated music arising out of a deep unconscious word-counting and word-weighing. One can sense the poet sorting the music of thinking and feeling from the chaos of an outsized undifferentiated passion. But above all, it is the passion that I love about this poem, and how that passion is canalized by discipline to create a work of profound beauty.” This poem, along with the poems from the second place winner and finalists, can be read in Ruminate.

Winner
Nicole Rollender: “Necessary Work”

Second Place
Temple Cone: “What I Meant by Joy”

Finalists
Harry Bauld: “When You Grow Up Catholic”
James Crews: “For Those Weary of Prayer Calling”
Rachael Katz: “Animal Valentine”
Anna Maria Craighead-Kintis: “The Bosque Burns on the Feast of John the Baptist”
Becca J. R. Lachman: “Wait”
Laurie Lamon: “I stopped writing the poem”
Kelly Michels: “Static In The Dark”
Carolyn Moore: “What Euclid’s Third Axiom Neglects to Mention about Circles”
Shann Ray: “My Dad, In America”
Matthew Roth: “My Father Goes Out with a Chain in His Hand”
Wesley Rothman: “Long After My Grandfather’s Death”
Mitchell Untch: “Autumn”
Gary Whitehead: “Warren”

Every year, The Kenyon Review hosts the Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers, “named in honor of Patricia Grodd in recognition of her generous support of The Kenyon Review and its programs, as well as her passionate commitment to education and deep love for poetry.” Judged by Poetry Editor David Baker, the prize awards high school sophomores and juniors with a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop as well as publication in The Kenyon Review. Featured in the most recent issue of the magazine are the winners from the 2012 contest, the ninth year of the contest.

For the first time, says Baker, “I have opted to present two first-prize designations to two equally fine yet notably different poems. The screening and judging is done through a blind process—no identifying names or origins on the individual poems—so let me congratulate all three poets whose work has risen to the top this year.”

The poems of the two first place winners and the runner up, as well as commentary from Baker, can be read in the Fall 2012 issue of The Kenyon Review.

First-Prize Winners
Victoria White: “Elephant Grave”
Truman Zhang: “Dear Poet”

Runner-Up
Nandita Karambelkar: “Rangoli”

Featured both online and in Carve Magazine‘s first print issue (Fall 2012) are the winners of the 2012 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. Selected among 691 entries, 39 semi-finalists, and 7 finalists, the five winners were selected by blind voting.

The 2012 guest judge was Bridget Boland, a “a Dallas-based writer whose work has appeared in Conde Nast Women’s Sports and Fitness, YogaChicago, and The Essential Chicago. Her debut novel, The Doula, will be published by Simon and Schuster in September 2012. Ms. Boland teaches writing classes on fiction and memoir, coaches other writers, and offers seminars on yoga, energetics and writing as life process tools. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a JD from Loyola University of Chicago, and is the recipient of five residencies at The Ragdale Foundation for Writers and Artists.”

Winners:

First Place: $1000
“The Odyssey” by Jia Tolentino in Houston, TX

Second Place: $750
“The Third Element” by Jodi Paloni in Marlboro, VT

Third Place: $500
“Neuropathy” by Kathy Flann in Baltimore, MD

Two Editor’s Choice: $250 each
“Starlings” by Joseph Johnson in Ellensburg, WA (Matthew)
“Floating on Water” by Dalia Rosenfeld in Charlottesville, VA (Kristin)

The “longlist” (39 semi-finalists) can be found on the website and interviews with the winning authors and the comments from Boland are exclusive to the print issue.

The American Short Fiction 2012 Short Story Contest winners have been announced. First place winner James DeWille’s story “Last Days on Rossmore” is featured in the most recent issue of American Short Fiction. The contest judge, Justin Cronin, says, “This story grabbed me right away with its off-kilter scenario, compact characterization, and downright zingy dialogue. Everything here felt completely original, nothing that had ever been written or imagined before, which is the hallmark of a first-rate short story.”

Second place (not printed in the issue) goes to Suzanne Barnecut for “On Great Mountain.” The announcement on the website says that “Cronin admired its deft use of second person and said the story is ‘full of wise observations.'”

Other writers in the issue include Max Ross (“Exorcising”), Elizabeth Ellen (“Teen Culture”), Alyssa Knickerbocker (“The Daughter of a Squaw Man Smuggles Wool and Other Goods”), and Roxane Gay (“We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness”).

Glimmer Train announced the winning stories for their June Fiction Open competition. This Fiction Open competition is held quarterly. Stories generally range from 2000-6000 words, though up to 20,000 is fine. The next Fiction Open will take place in September. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Stefani Nellen (pictured), of Groningen, The Netherlands, wins $2500 for “Men in Pink Tutus.” Her story will be published in the Fall 2013 issue of Glimmer Train Stories. [Photo credit: Niels Taatgen]

Second place: Tom Kealey, of Greensboro, NC, wins $1000 for “The Lost Brother.” His story will also appear in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Ben Fowlkes, of Missoula, MT, wins $600 for “Something Something Land Down Under.” His story will also be published in Glimmer Train Stories, increasing his prize to $700.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Upcoming Deadline for the next Fiction Open competition: September 30, 2012

The newest issue of Mudfish features the writing and winners of the 10th Annual Mudfish Poetry Prize. The winners were selected by Mark Doty.

First Place
Alison Jarvis: “Elegy for a Drummer”

Second Place
Angelo Nikolopoulos: “Take the Body Out”

Third Place
Nancy Hechinger: “Fireworks on the Fourth in the Town of Margaretville”

Other writers that appear in this issue include Cherri Randall, Jan Ball, Stephen Sandy, Gertrude Morris, Peter Layton, Deborah H. Doolittle, Lyn Lifshin, Kevin King, Dwayne Thorpe, Simon Perchik, Sarah Wyman, Jeff Crandall, Greg Brownderville, Terry Phelan, Tess Carroll, Tim Erickson, Marina Rubin, Sara Sousa, Linda Larson, Henrietta Goodman, Angela Kelly, Brad Buchanan, Carol Matos, Madeline Tiger, Robert Steward, and many more.

Since transitioning to an online magazine, The Baltimore Review publishes their first cumulative print issue, which includes work from their first two online issues. “In the future, our annual print issues will include the work from all quarterly issues,” the editor’s note indicates. “We hope that you will enjoy the array of voices in these pages. There is music in the language here. There are stories you will remember for a long time.”

Included in the print issue is the 2011 Short Fiction Competition’s first place winner Linda Barnhart’s “The New Victorians.” There is also writing from the Room Theme Contest:

First Place
Emily Roller: “Improvement”

Second Place
Jen Murvin Edwards: “Come In, Come In”

Third Place
Heather Martin: “On Maimeó”

Other contributors to the issue include Ned Balbo, Harry Bauld, Nathan Gower, Josh Green, Paul Hostovsky, Tim Kahl, Todd Kaneko, Michael Kimball, Peter Kispert, Beth Lefebvre, Christopher Lowe, Jen Michalski, Devin Murphy, Andrew Purcell, Seth Sawyers, Catherine Thomas, Angela Narciso Torres, Michelle Valois, James Walser, Stephen J. West, Gregory Wolos, and many more.

The most recent issue of Creative Nonfiction is all about true crime. “In this issue,” says Editor Lee Gutkind, “we have some pretty compelling, real-life, true crime essays: ‘Origami & the Art of Identity Folding,’ by AC Fraser, winner of CNF’s $1,000 ‘True Crime Essay Contest’ prize, takes us inside the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Fraser served time for identity theft. In ‘Grave Robber: A Love Story,’ Joyce Marcel recalls her 30s, when, having run away from an unhappy marriage, she supported her travels for several years by buying and selling and smuggling ancient ceramics from Peru.”

“‘Leviathan,’ by David McGlynn, is the story of a brutal triple-murder of the author’s close friend, age 15, and his brother and father, while ‘Addict,’ by Lacy M. Johnson, tells the mind-boggling story of how the writer’s ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and bolted her to a chair he built in a basement apartment. And that’s just in the beginning.”

“Finally, Steven Church’s ‘Speaking of Ears and Savagery’ is a sprawling discourse on Mike Tyson, Travis the Chimp, Van Gogh, David Lynch and more, exploring our conflicted relationship with brutality.”

“The rest of the issue circles around this same theme, exploring our fascination with true crime stories and tales of true violence. Harold Schechter, the author of many carefully researched true crime stories, starts off the issue with a long view of the true crime genre, which, he argues, dates almost as far back as type. In this issue’s Encounter, Donna Seaman talks with Erik Larson, author of ‘The Devil in the White City’ and ‘In the Garden of Beasts,’ about the work he puts into his meticulously researched best sellers. There’s also a thoughtful round-table discussion about the challenges of writing honestly—and ethically—about violence.”

Geist announces the winners of their 9th Annual Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest. “For eight years now,” the editors say, “Geist has been asking writers to send in short stories inspired by postcard images. This year Geist shook things up by asking contest entrants to write short stories inspired by postcards they had made themselves, or by images in the public domain.”

1st Prize
“Spooning” by Davey Thompson and Cameron Tully

2nd Prize
“The Paper Dress” by Susan Steudel

3rd Prize
“Layover” by Michelle Elrick

Honorable Mentions:
“Kiwi” by Britta Boudreau
“Spit-Wet Fingers and a Kiss” by Carin Makuz
“Members” by Jannie Edwards
“Schrödinger’s Cat” by Jessica Michalofsky
“Space Aliens” by R. Daniel Lester
“After Lydia” by Raoul Fernandes
“String Theory” by Salvatore Difalco

You can read the winning stories online here. The three prize winners are also in print in Geist 85.

The new issue of Blue Mesa Review features the winners of the magazine’s 2012 Fiction and Poetry Contest. The fiction contest was judged by Kate Braverman, and the poetry contest was judged by Dana Levin.

Fiction Contest Winners
First Place: Tom Watters with “National Steel”
Second Place: Alison Hess with “Admission”

Poetry Contest Winners
First Place: Cynthia Monroe with “Lemon Fervor”
Second Place: Benjamin Garcia

The Baltimore Review editors have announced the winners of their Summer Issue “Heat” theme contest as selected by Final Judge Jean McGarry, Professor and Co-Chair, The Writing Seminars, Johns Hopkins University. All winning works appear in the Summer Issue online and will appear in the review’s annual print collection in 2013.

First Place
Ann Cwiklinski
“Selkie” – Short Story

Second Place
Moira Egan
“Hot Flash Sonnet” and “Sisters in Sweat Sonnet” – Poems

Third Place
Claudia Cortese
“The field curdles” and “Slippery Banjo” – Poems

Honorable Mention
Jennifer Fandel
“Heat Wave” – Poem

In the most recent issue, The Malahat Review publishes Naben Ruthnum’s novella “Cinema Rex” as the winner for the 2012 Novella Contest. His entry was selected from 215 submissions by three judges: Terence Young, Valerie Compton, and Gabriella Goliger. In addition to publication, Ruthnum was awarded $1500 CAD prize money.

Judges said the following about his piece: “[it] incorporates footnotes to explore a different kind of omniscience. The story, set in exotic Mauritius, follows three adolescent boys on the opening day of the town’s newest theatre, Cinema Rex. They skip school when they discover their teacher slumped over on his desk in a drunken sleep, and from there events build to the evening’s entertainment, a translated version of ‘The Night of the Hunter.’ Throughout, the footnotes move us forward in time to the boys’ adult lives, creating a kind of sympathetic cosmic irony. The language of ‘Cinema Rex’ is precise, the tone engaging, and the characters compelling. It has an unstoppable momentum, often surprising details and vivid dialogue. This is a novella that has been pared to essentials, with every element working together.”

A web exclusive interview with Ruthnum about his prize can be found here.

In the most recent issue, Vine Leaves Literary Journal announced the winners for the Logline Contest in which writers submitted the logline for their current novel. Winners receive free critiques from publishing experts and a one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com.

First Place: Lynn Hartzer
In a future society where men are extinct, the last born clone must follow her sister back through time to find the perfect 21st Century specimen to help repopulate the world.

Second Place: Taffy Lovell
Angelica remembers nothing about the deaths of her nine best friends, even though she was there for each of them.

Third Place: Elizabeth White
Every teacher has a fish story about working for a psychotic principal. Annie Smart’s is true.

Open Minds Quarterly announces and publishes the winners of their tenth annual BrainStorm Poetry Contest in the current issue.

First Place
D. Brian Anderson: “To Sylvia Plath”

Second Place
Donald W. Boyles: “To My Father”

Third Place
Kristina Morgan: “Excerpt from Shade“

Honorable mentions Andrew Boden, April Bulmer, and D. Brian Anderson will have their work published in the Fall 2012 issue.

“This year’s BrainStorm Poetry Contest,” say the editors, “is dedicated in greatest appreciation and fondest memory to Ann Morrison, who volunteered her time and passion for many years as one of our contest judges before passing away on Friday, May 25, 2012. Thank you, Ann. Your presence and insight will be very missed.”

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their May Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will take place in August. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

1st place goes to Michael Deagler of Pipersville, PA [pictured]. He wins $1500 for “Etymology” and his story will be published in the Fall 2013 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out next August. This will be his first published story.

2nd place goes to Tom Dibblee of Los Angeles, CA. He wins $500 for “Stuck in a Sixth Floor Penthouse” and his story will also be published in a future issue of Glimmer Train Stories, raising his prize to $700. This will be his first print publication.

3rd place goes to Andrew Slater of New York City. He wins $300 for “Whatever Makes You Happy.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching for the Very Short Fiction Award: July 31
Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place has been increased to $1500 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers, no theme restrictions, and the word count must not exceed 3000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Chautauqua‘s newest issue acknowledges and features the writing of The Chautauqua Institution Poetry Contest and The Hauser Prize Prose Contest winners. The contests are sponsored by the Chautauqua Literary Arts Friends.

2011 Mary Jean Irion Poetry Prize
Sophie Klahr, Houston, Texas
“May”

2011 Charles Hauser Prose Prize
Kathryn Hoffman, Arlington, Virginia
“What I Know About Elections”

The issue itself is themed “War & Peace” and also features Luciana Bohne, Rebecca Foust, Cristina Garcia, Diana Hume George, John Griesemer, Charlotte Matthews, Gerardo Mena, Christopher Merrill, Neil Shepard, Ashley Warlick, Luke Whisnant, and Gary Whitehead.

Cream City Review‘s latest issue features the magazine’s Annual Literary Award winners. The fiction prize was judged by Vanessa Hua, the creative nonfiction prize by Margaret MacInnis, and the poetry prize by Esther Lee.

Fiction Prize
Caroline Wilkinson: “The Half-Glass Bed”

Creative Nonfiction Prize
Debra Marquart: “Ephemera”

Poetry Prize
Don Judson: “Appalachia”

Modern Haiku publishes the winners of The Robert Spiess Memorial 2012 Haiku Awards in the most recent issue. The judges, Melissa Allen and Carlos Colón, say “As a memorial to Editor Bob Spiess, who died on March 13, 2002, Modern Haiku sponsors The Robert Spiess Memorial Award Haiku Competition. We are grateful to Modern Haiku for allowing us to judge this year’s entries for the Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award Competition. The theme for 2012 was to write haiku in the spirit of the following Speculation by Robert Spiess from his book, A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 1995):

Haiku have three forms or manifestations: the written, which enters the eye; the spoken, which enters the ear; and the essential … which enters the heart. [Prompted in part by a passage by Sa’in al-Din ibn Turkah.]

There were many excellent haiku that were worthy of commendation. Although it was difficult deciding on the poems for Honorable Mentions, we quickly settled on the three winning poems.”

First Prize
Scott Mason

Second Prize
Duro Jaiye

Third Prize
Susan Constable

Honorable Mentions
Margaret Chula
Michele L. Harvey
Kirsty Karkow
Scott Mason