In nonfiction, our winner is J Lazar, for her piece “The End of What We Know.’” Of the essay, nonfiction judge Meghan O’Rourke says, “In formally exploratory and lyrical prose, the author explores the stakes—and losses—entailed in migration. If migration is the ‘end of what we know,’ the essay asks, then how can nonfiction adequately…
In fiction, our winner is Mengyin Lin, for her story “野火烧不尽/no prairie fire can destroy all the weeds.” Of the story, fiction judge Gish Jen says, “This gutsy and ambitious story nimbly ranges over five cities worldwide, chronicling the 2022 protests to China’s COVID-19 policies—a project fraught with not only political risks but artistic risks,…
In fiction, our winner is Catherine Kim, for her short story “Mache/Mary.” Of the story, fiction judge Amelia Gray says, “‘Mache/Mary’ is based on a true story, which makes its elegant storytelling all the more crucial—and satisfying. Intimacy and wit characterize the piece, which takes a winding point of view to settle on a woman…
In poetry, our winner is Giovannai Rosa, for their poem “untitled sugar poem.” Of the poem, poetry judge Chen Chen says, “I love it when a poem makes me gasp because of its language and its turns—and this one made me gasp at multiple points. Then, rereading it and realizing: of course a poem thinking…
In nonfiction, our winner is Megan Valley, for her essay “Painstaking Preservation.” Of the story, nonfiction judge Danielle Geller says, “To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable; to be unsure is to be unsteady, but to be a person of conviction, one must turn a blind eye to all the faults…
In nonfiction, our winner is Madeline Vosch, for her essay “Undead.” This essay, nonfiction judge Paul Lisicky says, “is as much about the mystery of the life force as it is about the crisis of our time and how we fail the suffering. Every note is on pitch; there’s no excess, no unnecessary embellishment, and…
In poetry, our winner is Margaret Wright, for her poem “Accidents.” Of the poem, poetry judge Paige Lewis says, “Is it possible for a poem to be a ghost? From the description of liminal spaces (the stopped train, the empty roller rink) to the uncertainty of the ‘accident,’ to the poem’s desire for us to…
In fiction, our winner is Meghan O’Toole, for her short story “Good Food for Starving Things.” Of the story, fiction judge Kiley Reid says, “‘Good Food for Starving Things’—dark, abrupt, and a bit wild—is a deft cross-pollination concerning what it means to be a beast, and what it means to belong. With addictive and highly…
In nonfiction, our winner is Jeremiah Barker for his essay “Bearing.” Of his essay, nonfiction judge Esmé Weijun Wang says, “The winning essay captured me immediately: both calm and confident, with a mature voice that carried me through a brilliantly written narrative of trauma. I am in awe of how adept this writer is at…
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