2021 Contest Winners Are Here

May Day Mountain Chapbook Prize

Winner: Zach Semel, “Let the tides take my body” available for purchase here.

Finalists:

Mark Keats, “Notes for the Afterlife”

Elizabeth McCarthy, “Digging Potatoes”

Marisa Tirado, “Selena Didn’t Know Spanish Either”

Lynn Mundell, “Let Our Bodies Be Returned to Us”

Kristen Ritter, “Names”

Samantha Kolber, “Classified”

Linda Lamenza, “Left-Handed Poetry”

All other contest winners will be published online next week!

Howard Frank Mosher Prize for Short Fiction, judged by Trinie Dalton:

Winner: “My Wish for You in the Land of the Dead: A Cuban Sandwich” by Leslie Blanco

Runner-up: “The Oedipal Myth: a Retelling” by Jeffrey Rapaport

Honorable Mention: “Today You Fly with Me” by Marina Clementi

Finalists:

“The Gift” by Celine Aenlle-Rocha

“Nor’easter” by J. Stillwell Powers

“Middle School” by Melinda Goodman

“We’ll Make a Life” by Michaela Anchan

Ruth Stone Poetry Prize, judged by Tomás Q. Morín:

Winner: “In the Shower, When Your Marriage is Finally Over” by Erin Rose Coffin

Runner-up: “Grief Sestina” by Sunni Brown Wilkinson

Honorable Mention: “Quantum Entanglement” Leslie Williams

Finalists:

“Escort Officer Duty” by Laura Joyce-Hubbard   

“High Priestess of the Moon God of the City of Ur” by Lauren Davis

“Popular Metaphor” by Madeleine Cravens

“Happy Creatures Triptych” by Aza Pace

“Nine Sunday Morning Graves” by Cameron Cocking

“This New Manhattan” by Karol Nielsen 

“Only God Knows or Google Knows Why the King’s River’s Running Backwards” by Brody Parrish Craig

“The Definition of Mirari as Black Bear” by M Silverman

“Made by Nature” by Nathan Spoon

Katherine Paterson Prize for Writing for Young Adults & Children, judged by Ann Dávila Cardinal:

Overall Winner: “Indrajaal” by Mitu Malhotra

First Place Picture Book: “An Atom in Space. A Cantaloupe.”by Jen Breach 

First Place Middle Grade: “What Olivia Knew” by Emily Young

First Place Young Adult: “My Father’s Messiah” by Evelyn Krieger

Finalists:

“Twilight” by Kimberly Alcock

“Willow and the Storm” by Frances Canon

“The Gap in the Data” by Anne-Marie Strohman

“Remain” by Ellery Lamm

“The Practical Magic of Josephine Jackson” by Christy Lenzi

“Atlantic Spectrum” by Kathy Distefano

Hunger Mountain’s Creative Nonfiction Prize, judged by Terese Marie Mailhot:

Winner: “What You Wanted from Me I Imagined” by Nikita Ladd

Finalists:

“Babalao” by Zita Arocha

“Unclean” by Mant Bares

“Cat on a Cold Wood Floor” by Andrea Bianchi

“The Air Will Cut Through Each Swaggering Heart” by Caitlin Palmer

“Casting Off: A Triptych” by Sofia Sears

“Meadow, Cabin, Sea” by Sarah Pape

“Five Dubious Goodbyes” by Judith Sara Gelt

“My Great Hunger” by Stephanie Green

“Everything Was Wild, No One Was a Stranger” by Mary Birnbaum

The International Young Writers’ Prize for Writing by High-School Aged Students:

Winner: “Someday I Will Love Ottavia Paluch” by Ottavia Paluch

Runner-Up: “My Neighbor Justin” by Yejin Suh

Honorable Mention: “Hunger” by Sarah Fathima Mohammed