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Creative Writing Awards Archive
Below are links to the creative writing winner's pieces and the commentary from the professional judges.
To see pictures of them receiving their awards view Scholarships & Awards
Links are attached to the blog:
2019 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
The entries were judged by Toni Jensen .
Toni Jensen is the author of Carry, a memoir-in-essays about gun violence,forthcoming from Ballantine. Her essays and stories have been published in journals such as听Orion, Catapult and Ecotone, and have been anthologized widely. Her story collection, From the Hilltop, was published through the Native Storiers Series at the University of Nebraska Press. She teaches in the Programs in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas and in the Low Residency MFA at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is M茅tis.
- First Place is Marissa Purdum with her story
On the story Jensen says: Marissa Purdum鈥檚 鈥淭he Dog Days鈥� is a vivid, heart-wrenching account of her time as a homeless youth. Though the story itself is compelling, it鈥檚 Purdum鈥檚 execution of the story that makes it so鈥攆rom watching her teddy bear be auctioned off, to the loss of her dog, each moment is rendered through clear-eyed details.
- Second Place is Marcus Sweeten with his story
On the story Jensen says: Marcus Sweeten鈥檚 鈥淎 Dose of Change鈥� looks straight at the experience of first love and first loss. Sweeten gives each scene, each moment through distinct scenes. In particular, the pool scene is lush and memorable for its language.
- Third Place is Kendrick Keller with his story
On the story Jensen says: Kendrick Keller鈥檚 鈥淔light鈥� puts in motion everyday and also extraordinary experiences. The scenes move so well, and the language used to describe the college experience make each scene feel like something new, something strange but familiar.
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
The entries were judged by Brandon Hobson .
Brandon Hobson is the author of the novel Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction and winner of the Reading the West Book Award. His other books include the novels Deep Ellum and Desolation of Avenues Untold. His work has appeared in The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Believer, The Paris Review Daily, Conjunctions, NOON, Post Road, and in many other places. Beginning in fall 2019, he will be an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at New Mexico State University. Hobson is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma.
- First Place is Adam Norris with his story
On the story Hobson says: I really loved the dialogue and playfulness in the prose. The writer maintains an urgency by being innovative with form. Great work.
- Second Place is Angelique Herrera with her story
On the story Hobson says: I loved the sense of conflict right from the beginning. The writer was able to keep a consistent sense of immediacy and conflict throughout the story.
- Third Place is Brandon Williams with his story
On the story Hobson says: I loved the prose here. Really beautiful writing, and very strong dialogue. Also, the pacing was really nice, which is very hard to do well; this writer succeeded.
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
The entries were judged by Justin Bigos .
Justin Bigos is the author of the poetry collection Mad River (Gold Wake, 2017), which was a finalist for the Emily Dickinson/Poetry Foundation First Book Award; as well as the chapbook听Twenty Thousand Pigeons听(iO, 2014). His poems, stories, essays, and interviews with poets appear in publications including听New England Review, The Seattle Review,听Ploughshares, Southern Indiana Review, McSweeney鈥檚 Quarterly,听The Rumpus,听补苍诲听The Best American Short Stories 2015. Justin cofounded and coedits the literary magazine Waxwing. He has recently joined the faculty of the MFA Program in Writing & Publishing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts,听补苍诲听makes his home听in Barre, VT.
- First Place is Eric Short with his poems , , &
On the poem Bigos says: Eric Short's poems look so hard at the world that the world looks back--and speaks: an America whose past and present overlap in "a hundred Missouri spring thunderstorms," the revving and belching of " '91 Pontiac Grand Prixs" and Beavis and Butthead, and the oily beads of sweat rolling down a glass during a drinking game. These poems are not things merely seen, but visions.
- Second Place is Marcus Sweeten with his poems 听&补尘辫;
On the poem Bigos says: Marcus Sweeten's portraiture and self-portraiture collide and spark and flare in these beautiful poems of longing, conflagrations my mind cannot stamp out. They are nothing less than ars poetica and ekphrasis in the ancient traditions, and I salute them.
- Third Place is Janae Imeri with her poems &
On the poem Bigos says: Janae Imeri's dreamy nostalgia has a rare honesty to it, a raw tenderness, an ache. And it is shaped into lyrics so particular to this poet's experience that, paradoxically, we feel their hot breath on our necks as if they were our own. In these poems I feel nothing less than wonder.
2018 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st place 鈥� Austin Middleton 鈥� ""
- 2nd place 鈥� Jason Cummins 鈥� ""
- 3rd place 鈥� Kendrick Keller 鈥� ""
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st place 鈥� Cheyenne Rideaux 鈥� ""
- 2nd place 鈥� Maria Chiaradonna 鈥� ?
- 3rd place 鈥� Marissa Purdum 鈥� ""
- Other 鈥� Austin Middleton 鈥� ""
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st place 鈥� Claire Dodson 鈥�"", "" & "
- 2nd place 鈥� Marissa Purdum 鈥� ""
- 3rd place 鈥� Marcus Sweeten 鈥� ""
2017 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
The entries were judged by Megan Stielstra . Megan Stielstra is the author of three books:听The Wrong Way To Save Your Life(forthcoming August 2017 from Harper Perennial),听Once I Was Cool听(Curbside Splendor 2014), 补苍诲听Everyone Remain Calm听(ECW/Joyland 2011).听Her work appears in the听Best American Essays, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Guernica, Buzzfeed, The Rumpus, and on National Public Radio. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University.
- 1st place 鈥� Afolarin Sanni 鈥� ""
On the story Stielstra says: Terrific stuff. We covered so much time, so many places, so many characters and everything was constantly clear and focused, like the fragment theme laid out in the first paragraph (and immediately followed by the image of fragments, the broken green-glass beer bottle from the writer's earliest memory). I appreciated how, near the end of each memory fragment, there was a gut-punch of a line that wrapped up why the scene I'd just experienced was important to the overall idea of what we can't run away from, what we ca't shake. Specifically: "I became familiar with that word, potential," and "I reminded myself that I didn't cry." If Afolarin is interested in giving this essay another look, maybe consider how the last paragraph might echo back to the first paragraph, a repeat of language, perhaps?
- 2nd place 鈥� Rebecca Gonner 鈥� ""
On the story Stielstra says: I loved how visual this essay is, almost cinematographic, like watching a movie, while still giving us the full interior life of the narrator. The structure is excellent, too: different instances of how others see her - mother, photographer, friends, bully - before the final scene of how she sees herself. What stood out the most for me was the moment at the top of page 7 when she's looking outwards and telling us how she sees the beauty of her friends. If Rebecca is interested in giving this essay another look, maybe consider that same idea in the other sections? What she sees when she looks at her mother, the photographer, the bully....
- 3rd place 鈥� Sarah Radtke 鈥� "Untitled"
On the story Stielstra says: I identified fiercely with this piece; how we examine our youthful obsessions with the greater wisdom of adulthood (but rarely do they have such a positive outcome as this! What an incredible story!). I also appreciated how Sarah moved us through time via technology. Made me think a lot about how social media has changed our access. If she's interested in giving this essay another look, I'd love to see the scene of that first concert she attended (seeing him onstage was the first time you saw him IRL, right? What was that like? The crowd, the music, etc.?), and hear some of the dialogue between her and Costner later to really understand how this experience move from a dream to a reality.
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
The entries were judged by Laura Pritchett . Laura Pritchett is the author of nine books. She began her writing journey in her early 20s with the short story collection Hell鈥檚 Bottom, Colorado, which won the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. This was followed by the novels Sky Bridge, Stars Go Blue, Red Lightning, and The Blue Hour. She鈥檚 the editor of three anthologies: Pulse of the River, Home Land, and Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers. She also has two nonfiction books: Great Colorado Bear Stories补苍诲听Making Friends with Death, Kind Of (due out Sept 2017). Her work has appeared in听The New York Times, O Magazine, Salon, High Country News, The Millions, Publisher鈥檚 Weekly, The Sun, Brain, Child, and many others.听
- 1st place 鈥� Allen Dullin 鈥� "After the Fire"
On the story Pritchett says: This story captures a coming-of-age moment鈥攁 hard-earned wisdom鈥攚hen the narrator glimpses a simple truth: 鈥淣o longer did I think of myself or anyone else as invincible. Thoughts and beliefs that were concrete were in a state of flux, reshaped by lines of events.鈥� In a brief connection between a young man and his uncle during at a wake, we feel the narrator grappling with his father鈥檚 death and his own uncertain future.
- 2nd place 鈥� Cheyenne Rideaux 鈥� ""
On the story Pritchett says: What starts as a redux of the old classic fairytale turns dark and foreboding when we realize the power of addiction, old wounds, and the inherent problem with escape.
- 3rd place 鈥� Matt Gamperl 鈥� ""
On the story Pritchett says: A surprising tragedy puts big questions on the table: the pull of friendship, the life-changing nature of one mistake, the importance of responsibility.
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
The entries were judged by Larry Jones . Larry Jones鈥� Publications and Prizes include the collections, We Become a Picnic: Selected Poems 1971-1983, Troubadour (CUNY, 2005) (Venom Press, 1994)Anthologies: ANYDSWPE Anthology Series (Rogue Scholars Press, 2014), Crossroads (Ikon Press, 1994), Downtown Poets 1999 (Montclair Takilma Publishing, 1999). He鈥檚 been published in magazines such as Perspecties and The Opiate and he has been the CUNYarts Fellow in 2005.
- 1st place 鈥� Allison Hartman 鈥撎�"" & ""
On the poems Jones says: In poems such as 鈥淲e Grew Up鈥� and 鈥淪carred,鈥� she assembles something of a bildungsroman of gender and social identity in the 21st century.
- 2nd place 鈥� Rachel Troyer 鈥� "", "" & ""
On the poems Jones says: Mystery, irony and the gothic romantically merge in the Moriarty of 鈥淢y Lost Friend鈥� and 鈥渟illy sparkling teenaged vampires鈥� of 鈥淎rs Poetica.鈥�
- 3rd place 鈥� Natalie Jacobson 鈥� "","" & ""
On the poems Jones says: Seemingly disparate qualities and configurations as 鈥渟weet鈥� and 鈥渟our鈥� and 鈥渟tains鈥� and 鈥済litter鈥� are juxtaposed to promote a graphic ambiguity.
2016 Creative Writing Award Winners
We are proud to announce the recipients of the 2016 Lois C. Burner Awards in Creative Nonfiction, Cordell Larner Awards in Fiction, and Cordell Larner Awards in Poetry.听The submissions were very competitive, and we regret having so few awards to give. Thank you for your submissions, and congratulations to all the recipients!
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
The entries were judged by Scott Black.
- 1st place 鈥� Justin Kim 鈥� ""
On the story Black says: I like that the questions are complex, the answers numerous.听 Mostly, I miss the grandpa, and will carry with me the poignant image of the author鈥檚 mother using a wet sponge to moisten the lips of her dying father.
- 2nd place 鈥� Alyson Eagan 鈥� ""
On the story Black says: This essay is raw, urgent. It contains lot of anger, but also vulnerability and tenderness.
- 3rd place 鈥� Jared Worley 鈥� ""
On the story Black says: The voice is likable and energetic, and the conflict it addresses (warriors re-integrating into society after battle) is at on one hand ancient and universal, and on the other, personal, specific, and very relevant to contemporary times.
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
The entries were judged by Steve Edwards : Steve Edwards is the author of the memoir Breaking into the Backcountry, the story of his half-year in solitude as the caretaker of a remote homestead in Oregon. You can find him on twitter at @The_Big_Quiet
- 1st place 鈥� Kateline Deushane 鈥� ""
On the story Edwards says: I loved her sentences--the surprises in them, the metaphor and humor. This story does such a nice job of moving us through time with a light touch, building upon itself as it goes. I appreciated the layers of meaning she was able to get in there. Very successful story.
- 2nd place 鈥� Joceyln James 鈥� ""
On the story Edwards says: There's an intensity here, a sub-current of meaning, that really draws me in. I liked the lyricism and the freedom of the form--the way the words swim around the page. It seemed to work for a story like this one that is so internal and insight driven.
- 3rd place 鈥� Jon Naskrent 鈥� ""
On the story Edwards says: There's an instant appeal for me here--to be young again and writing letters from a far-flung place. I identified with the characters and enjoyed getting to know them through the stories that are told.
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
The entries were judged by Christopher Hennessy . Christopher Hennessy is the author of Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets. He earned an MFA from Emerson College and currently is a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Hennessy is a longtime associate editor for The Gay & Lesbian Review-Worldwide.
- 1st place 鈥� Jon Naskrent 鈥� "", "" & ""
On the poems Hennessy says: Mr. Naskrent鈥檚 poems are steeped in the concrete world, the senses, and vivid and memorable details that layer his poems with at turns a subtlety and a complexity. They take risks. The poems endings show us that the poet understands how to create a realization in the reader that what he or she has just experienced in the poem will always escape any effort to translate it into prose.
- 2nd place 鈥� Jocelyn James 鈥� "", "" & ""
On the poems Hennessy says: Ms. James' poems' strengths reside in the unique and powerful voice the speaker inhabits; she evokes such a richly layered interiority with a striking economy of language matched only by the poems' feeling of authenticity. Her poems were confident at every step, bold but vulnerable, a great feat in that combination.
- 3rd place 鈥� Katherine Garon 鈥� "" & ""
On the poems Hennessy says: Ms. Garon's poetry is polished and precise, with a strong sense of line and the ability to craft an arresting image.
2015 Creative Writing Award Winners
- View winner's pieces in听Elements 2015
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st place 鈥� Kirsten Dillender
- 2nd place 鈥� Sandra Sepaniak
- 3rd place 鈥� Alyson Eagan
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st place 鈥� Emilee Cox-Deboer
- 2nd place 鈥� Kimberly Ackers
- 3rd place 鈥� Katelin Deushane
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st place 鈥� Kimberly Ackers
- 2nd place 鈥� Matthew Medley
- 3rd place 鈥� Jon Naskrent
2014 Creative Writing Award Winners
- View winner's pieces in Elements 2014
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st Place - Sarah Lambach
- 2nd Place - Di Ann Vulich
- 3rd Place - Juliana Goodman
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st Place - Juliana Goodman
- 2nd Place - Corin Bodenhamer
- 3rd Place - Zachary McGowan
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st Place - Juliana Goodman
- 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
- 3rd Place - Victoria Drews
All Creative Writing Winners before 2014 are in our physical books in Simpkins Hall 124....
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2013 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st Place - Dustin Burnaugh
- 2nd Place - Kyle Dexter
- 3rd Place - Juliana Goodman
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st Place - Aaron Winkelman
- 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
- 3rd Place - Andrew Costigan
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st Place - Dustin Burnaugh
- 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
- 3rd Place - Zachary Share
2012 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st Place -听Jerry Taylor
- 2nd Place -听Joshua Gentile
- 3rd Place -听Thomas E. Boyd
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st Place -听Dustin Burnaugh
- 2nd Place -听Hannah Ross
- 3rd Place -听Kyle Dexter
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st Place -听Juliana Goodman
- 2nd Place -听James Black
- 3rd Place -听Aaron Winkelmann
2011 Creative Writing Award Winners
Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award
- 1st Place -听Adam Brown
- 2nd Place -听Joann Brennan
- 3rd Place -听Josue Hernandez
Cordell Larner Award in Fiction
- 1st Place -听Kelsey Yoder
- 2nd Place -听William Nixon
- 3rd Place -听Joann Brennan
Cordell Larner Award in Poetry
- 1st Place -听Adam Brown
- 2nd Place -听Hannah Ross
- 3rd Place -听Ryan Roby
2010 Creative Writing Award Winners
Cordell Larner Award: Fiction
- First place: Jeremy Jasper
- Second place: Mark Piekos
- Third place: Ryan Roby
Lois C. Bruner Literary Nonfiction Award
- First place: Juliene Soltwisch
- Second place: Matthew Hamilton
- Third place: Jeremy Jasper
Cordell Larner Award: Poetry
- First place: Dustin Burnaugh
- Second place: Adam Brown
- Third place: Kyle Furlane
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