Awards
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Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest
Guest Judged by Donald Quist
2024: November 13 to January 15
The 2024 Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest will be awarded in June 2025. Three winners, chosen and introduced by Guest Judge Donald Quist, will receive $1,000 each, publication, and a set of six titles of Graywolf’s The Art Of series. Two editors’ choice selections will receive $200 each and publication. All fifteen shortlisted writers will also receive a $1,000 scholarship to PocketMFA. Learn more here.
Past
Flash Prose Prize
Guest Judged by Meg Pokrass
2024: September 1 to October 27
The 2024 Flash Prose Prize will be awarded in April 2025. Three winners, chosen and introduced by Guest Judge Meg Pokrass, will receive $1,000 each, publication, and a bundle of the Rose Metal Press Field Guides. Two editors’ choice selections will receive $200 each and publication. Learn more here.
Dialogue Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2024: August 15 to August 25
The 2024 Dialogue Challenge will be awarded in January 2025. The winner, chosen by our editorial team, will receive $500 and publication. Learn more here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Kimberly King Parsons
2024: June 1 to August 4
Winners
First Place: Hadley Franklin, Happiness House
Second Place: Taylor Leatrice Werner, What Empties as It Fills
Third Place: Susan Morehouse, A Tremendous Thing
Find our full list of honored entries here.
EcoLit Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2024: May 20 to May 30
Winner
Janice Vis: “Here and There at the Lake”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Deesha Philyaw
2024: March 18 to May 19
Winners
First Place: Toni Martin, “Hold On”
Second Place: Mary Williams, “Pretend”
Third Place: Shivani Manghnani, “Island Girl”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Novelette Print Prize
Guest Judged by Hanna Pylväinen
2024: January 15 to March 17
Winner
Philip Anderson: Landing in Andonia
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest
Guest Judged by Sarah Fawn Montgomery
2023: November 13 to January 14
Winners
Chaya Bhuvaneswar: “Orchid,” Excerpt from Orchid: A Memoir
Elissa Lash: “Twelve”
Gabe Montesanti: “Bus Stop”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Prose Prize
Guest Judged by Kathy Fish
2023: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Annabel Li: “Analysis of a Fugue”
Heidi Richardson: “Southern Womb”
Rebecca Starks: “The Two Denvers”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Setting Sketch Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2023: August 10 t0 August 20
Winner
Gabrielle Hovendon: “North Country, New York”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Rebecca Makkai
2023: June 1 to July 30
Winners
First Place: Sonny Buttar, The Bad One
Second Place: Melissa Yancy, The Golden Suicides
Third Place: Jill Rosenberg, My Demons
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Character Sketch Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2023: May 15 to May 25
Winner
Naomi Melati Bishop: “Gordon Bishop”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Nana Nkweti
2023: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: Chinonyelum Anyichie, “Blackbird”
Second Place: Uyen Dang, “A Line of Wings”
Third Place: Janey Tracey, “Cillian”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Hybrid Writing Contest
Guest Judged by Nicole McCarthy
2023: January 3 to February 28
Winners
First Place: Rowan McCandless, “Split Ends”
Second Place: Andrew Borneman, “The Babysitter”
Third Place: Baņuta Rubess, “Four Words Whispered on a Smoky Field”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
2022: November 1 to December 29
Winners
Christian Bodney: “What I Do and Don’t Remember from the Days and Nights of Endlessly Smoking Crack and Shooting Heroin”
Lotte Mitchell Reford: “On Possessing a Body”
Amber Wong: “Where Am I From?”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Amelia Gray 2K Contest
Guest Judged by Amelia Gray
2022: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Sudha Balagopal: “Flapping Wings and a Shoeless Walk”
Katharine Duckett: “Birds x Bees”
Amy Grote: “Penny, Barbara, Ruth, Irene”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Maisy Card
2022: May 3 to June 30
Winners
First Place: Leah Bailly, Vegaboy
Second Place: Sarah Harris Wallman, Angels and Bears
Third Place: Ra’Niqua Lee, Frenzied, Desperate Birds
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Alan Heathcock
2022: March 1 to May 1
Winners
First Place: Lisa K. Buchanan, “Question Twenty-Eight”
Second Place: Amy Stuber, “Ghosts”
Third Place: Billy Middleton, “Pine Barrens”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Hybrid Writing Contest
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2022: February 1 to February 28
Winners
First Place: Chelsea Biondolillo, “Weeds”
Second Place: Christine Hume & Laura Larson, “All the Women I Know (Sandra, Dani, Roma, Alex)”
Third Place: Jade Hidle, “Census”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Ira Sukrungruang
2021: November 1 to December 30
Winners
JT Baldassarre: “Roach Farm”
Amy Evans: “The Stoics”
Gina DeMillo Wagner: “Following Floodlights Instead of the Moon”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Robert Lopez
2021: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Amina Gautier : “What the Mouth Knows”
A.J. Rodriguez: “De Nuevo”
Pete Stevens: “Riders”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Masie Cochran
2021: May 3 to June 30
Winners
First Place: Sam Simas, We the Liars
Second Place: Sena Moon, Familiar Strangers
Third Place: Leigh Camacho Rourks, When We Drowned
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Kirstin Valdez Quade
2021: March 1 to May 2
Winners
First Place—Willa Zhang: “Night Air”
Second Place—Leesa Fenderson: “Ugly”
Third Place—Cyn Nooney: “Just the Thing for a Day Like This”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Joy Castro
2020: November 1 to December 31
Winners
Tammy Delatorre: “The Ties That Bind”
Clare Fielder: “What You Don’t Know”
Liz Harmer: “Catalogue for a Coming of Age”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Leesa Cross-Smith
2020: September 1 to November 1
Winners
Puloma Ghosh: “In the Winter”
Ruth LeFaive: “It Will Be All of These Things”
Arshia Simkin: “Everything Is Haram and So Are You; or, What to Do with a Birthday Card”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Elements Contest: Conflict
2020: June 1 to August 3
Winners
John Haggerty: “Shelter”
Tobey Hiller: “Splinter”
Eliana Ramage: “This Dreary Exile of Our Earthly Home”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Alexander Chee
2020: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place—Jinwoo Chong: “Ariel”
Second Place—Rachel Pollon: “Yo Te Veo”
Third Place—Elie Piha: “Mule”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Benjamin Percy
2019: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Carol M. Quinn: “Epilogue”
Steven Simoncic: “Girls’ Weekend”
Hillary Smith: “How to Return Your Child to School”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Naomi Huffman
2019: June 1 to July 31
Winners
First Place: Meg Richardson, Paradise Pawn
Second Place: Timothy Hickey, Little Squirrel
Third Place: Jonathan Bohr Heinen, Empire of Dirt
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Elizabeth McCracken
2019: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: “Winters,” by Marilyn Hope
Second Place: “Every Bird a Rival,” by Jacqui Reiko Teruya
Third Place: “Assassin, Alchemist,” by Robert Ren
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Elements Contest: Character, Dialogue, Setting
2018: August 15 to September 30
Winners
Character: “So Much Trouble,” by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Dialogue: “Heart Trouble,” by Rex Adams
Setting: “Passing,” by Thaïs Miller
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Jim Shepard
2018: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: “Beyond Love,” by James Winter
Second Place: “Mule Brigade,” by Kenan Orhan
Third Place: “Proof You Worked the Land,” by Charlotte Crowe
Find our full list of honored entries here.