2018 Contest Winners Are Here

We are thrilled to announce the results of our 2018 contests! With nearly 1,200 entries, we had a wonderful time reading and a hard time choosing our finalists. Thank you to everyone who entered. The winning pieces will be published in the forthcoming months, right here on Hunger Mountain’s online companion.

Thank you to our talented assistant editors and dedicated readers for whom this is a true labor of love.


2018 Contest Winners


2018 Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize

Judge: Caroline Leavitt

First Place Winner:

  • Tova Benjamin for “Engraving Heaven’s Likeness” 

Runner-up:

  •  Jax Peters Lowell for “The Pornographer Downstairs”

Honorable Mentions:

  • Phebe TenBroeck Miner for “Selective”
  • Davis Enloe for “Not You. Not Us”

The 2018 finalists:

  •  Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley for “Beauty in the Blood”
  •  Heather Wells Peterson for “Worms”
  •  Vincent Reusch for “The Mercurial Science of the Human Heart”
  •  Corey Campbell for “Just Like You, Too”
  •  Orren Perlman for “Andrew”
  •  Barbara Dickenson for “Cedric’s Shoes”

2018 Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult & Children’s Writing

Judge: Kekla Magoon

Overall First Place: 

  •  Melissa Baumgart for “Don’t Quote Me” (Young Adult)

Category Winners: 

  • Picture Book: “Where’s Z?” by Brooke Herter James
  • Middle Grade: “Noble Nuptials: An Elizabethan Wedding Alphabet” by Helen Kemp Zax
  • Young Adult: “Bird Girl” by Christy Lenzi

Honorable Mentions:

  • Barbara Younger for “Randolph Caldecott: Forever in Motion” (Picture Book)
  • Patti Richards for “What the Seashell Said” (Picture Book)
  • Jessica Rinker for “The Young Travelers Club” (Middle Grade)
  • Meg Cook for “Laps” (Young Adult)

The 2018 finalists: 

  • Paulette Sharkey for “A Doll for Grandma” (Picture Book)
  • Carolyn Leiloglou for “Ruler of the Craft Table” (Picture Book)
  • Maureen Hourihan for “My Stupendous Fall from Grace” (Middle Grade)
  • Lisa Doan for “The King of Versailles” (Middle Grade)
  • Margaret Nevinski for “Zach Hammerkop and the Summer of Doom” (Middle Grade)
  • Aaron Rabinowitz for “Below Daylight” (Young Adult)
  • Catherine Alene for “Innocent Until” (Young Adult)

2018 Ruth Stone Poetry Prize

Judge: Sherwin Bitsui

First Place Winner:

  • Ainsley Drew for “Origin of the Species”

Runner-up:

  •  Tara Westmor for “Burial”

Honorable Mention:

  • Ainsley Drew for “Reception Study”

The 2018 finalists:

  • Theophilus Kwek for “Transformations”
  • Chaya Bhuvaneswar for “Red Seaweed”
  • Jihyun Yun for “The Leaving Season” and “_____ Found Dead in a Ditch”
  •  Barb Reynolds for “Safety in Numbers”
  •  Brenda Beardsley for “In This One—”
  •  Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley for “A. Real. Uncle. TomTom” and “Bonfire-flies,”

2018 Creative Nonfiction Prize

Judge: Pam Houston

First Place:

  • Helen Whybrow forThe Cord” 

Runner-up:

  • David Carlin for “The Biological Station”

Honorable Mention:

  • Cathryn Klusmeier for “Deadman’s Pass”

The 2018 finalists:

  • Caitlin McGill for “Window Curtains”
  • Katie Barnes for “The Domino Effect”
  • Amy Buchanan for “Into the System”
  • Jamie Hill for “Crushed”
  • Tayo Basquiat for “blind field”
  • Evelyn Krieger for “In the Driver’s Seat”

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