2016 Creative Writing Contest Winners
The William Carlos Williams Prize, from the Academy of American Poets
Awarded to the best original poetry by a graduate student
Winner: Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach
Contest judge Jane Wong writes of the winning submission: “Out of Stone” is a beautiful and terrifying poem which builds a forgotten history, stone by stone. Stone as in strength, stone as in weight, stone as in foundation. The poem opens with a striking sensory moment: “the smell of eggs and herring.” Memory floods back with intense synesthesia. This poem reflects on the speaker’s visit to Treblinka Memorial Park in Poland. The collective trauma of the Holocaust moves into the personal — an overwhelming legacy for the speaker: “so much / stone, I considered bringing a small one back / to my great-grandmother’s grave. but she’d had/enough already.” There are so many moments of sonic beauty here, where words tumble about in the mouth: “cobble to asphalt to uneven / love and unleavened/bread.” I keep returning to this poem again and again, struck by its unanswered, haunting questions: “who would endure / how long it takes / to get to loving them? / and who loves / a stone?”
The College Alumni Society Poetry Prize
Awarded to the best original poetry by an undergraduate student
Winner: Peter LaBerge
Contest judge Jane Wong writes of Peter LaBerge’s “Gust”: This poem is uncanny — shining a bright light on that which is hidden. Throughout, the imagery is uneasy and precise: “It begins with thousands / of curious boys, and ends with snow / the color of a fingertip.” The poem begins and begins again, repeating each story of violence anew: “It begins a game and ends / a pistol in the ground. It begins / with metaphor, and ends with a boy running naked / and bloody through the forest / of his own skin.” Moreover, its prose form with interior line breaks create a suffocating experience for the reader. By the end, we know something has occurred and is about to occur again: “It begins with hello, and ends / with the receiver nearly touching / the floor.” The word “nearly touching” is so devastating here.
Second place: Nina Lu
Contest judge Jane Wong writes of Nina Lu’s “Mother told us she wanted goldfish”: I was immediately struck by this poem’s visceral imagery. The poem is surreal and grotesque, featuring smallmouth bass in a fish tank in the piano room. This poem is a wildly imaginative amalgamation of Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” and Li-Young Lee’s “The Cleaving.” The poem is full of vibrant imagery: “So we poured their slippery, shiny bodies into the kitchen sink / And beat them quick against the head with / The blunt edge of a butcher’s knife.” This poem reminds us of what we can’t bear to look at.
Third place: Carlos Price-Sanchez
Contest judge Jane Wong writes of Carlos Price-Sanchez’s “mantras: immigrantes”: Language turns and turns again in this beautiful poem, with “mantras” echoing Gloria Anzaldúa’s linguistic border crossing. I find myself returning to this poem’s surreal language, which reminds us of stubborn myths and the stakes of migration — particularly when thinking about the American Dream: “soaked habichuelas are bobbing tear-moons,” “ i should ride it straight into Havana like a swimming pig,” and the incredible last line, “panthers leaping over doubling water.”
About the judge: Jane Wong’s poems can be found in places such as Best American Poetry 2015, Best New Poets 2012, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Third Coast, The Volta, and others. A Kundiman fellow, she is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships from the U.S. Fulbright Program, the Fine Arts Work Center, Squaw Valley, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She teaches at the University of Washington Bothell and the Hugo House. She is the author of Overpour (Action Books), forthcoming this fall.
The Phi Kappa Sigma Fiction Prize
Awarded to the best original short story by an undergraduate student
Winner: “Slumber Party” by Casey Lynch
Contest judge Selah Saterstrom writes: “Slumber Party” by Casey Lynch offers an unflinching, keening language — punctuated by excellent narrative timing — through which to consider the complexity and mystery of identity when sieved through its relations to others. Here is a story in which there is no cheap resolution. Rather, readers are granted an experience that is far more radiant and accurate: a deep sense of the ways we are both lost and found through the act of loving and/or attempting to. Lynch’s sense of detail does a marvelous job of expressing the emotional gravity of the situation. Indeed: here is an emerging writer who has a rich, nuanced, darkly humorous and wise voice, one I hope to read for many years to come.
Second place: “Roleplay” by Cameron Dichter
Contest judge Selah Saterstrom writes: The narrative through-line in “Roleplay” strikes me as rather genius. In addition to being very funny prose, make no mistake: there is also a deeper story here, one about transmutation, identity, and what intimacy might mean. “Roleplay” reminds that comedy orbits a dark sun, and attempts at intimacy — as awkward and wonderful as they might be — are not for the faint of heart. Here is prose writing that is remarkably efficient, but never at the expense of the gloriously placed detail. I keep returning to “Roleplay” to read it again — and perhaps this says more than my attempts to articulate how stunning this brief story is.
Third Place: “How to Kiss a Girl” by Nicolas J. Betancourt
Contest judge Selah Saterstrom writes: “How to Kiss a Girl” by Nicolas J. Betancourt maintains a sort of quiet elegance, which is to say: power. In remarkably little page space, Betancourt’s prose renders vulnerability with such nuance it feels almost tangible (no easy thing to do in writing!). Additionally, Betancourt’s use of the second-person narrative is well balanced and effective (and on that note, I was reminded of Jim Grimsley’s gorgeous book using the second-person narrative, Winter Birds). How to Kiss a Girl is an abbreviated Bildungsroman, one that reminds readers of the beauty of not (yet) knowing everything.
Honorable mentions:
“Taxi” by Emily Hoeven
“Three or Four or Six” by Zoe Stoller
“Fathers of Revolution” by Kimberly Lu
“Death and Other Inconveniences” by Miranda van Dijk
“Letter to a Stranger” by Brenda Wang
About the judge: Selah Saterstrom is the author of three novels, most recently Slab (Coffee House Press, 2015), which was also an award-winning play adapted for the stage by Square Product Theatre. She is the author of the forthcoming Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics (Essay Press, 2016), and curates Madam Harriette Presents, an occasional performance series. Her work has been widely anthologized and published, and she teaches and lectures across the United States. She is the director of creative writing at the University of Denver.
The Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing
Awarded to a graduate or undergraduate student for the best script (stage, screen, television, or radio)
Winner: “Sunset Stays” by Cameron Ditcher
Contest judge Casey Llewellyn writes: I was engaged from the beginning by the specificity of the images and the attention paid to storytelling through juxtaposition. I did not read the story; it unfolded around me. Characters were specific and complicated, and I really felt like I got to know them in the time I spent with them (because you showed me the right things). I could hold the wildness of the story’s trajectory because each moment was extremely well crafted. And it is lovely to feel like a movie really goes somewhere you could never have imagined and creates another world.
Second place: “Swipe” by Cami Potter
Contest judge Casey Llewellyn writes: This script really grew on me over the course of reading it, becoming increasingly more surprising, specific and original, and by the end I was laughing out loud and could not put it down. The plot construction is extremely skillful. The stage directions are used skillfully and hilariously to create the tone of the piece.
Third place: “The Virtual Present” by Naomi Bernstein and “For The Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing” by Ezekiel Mathur (tie)
Contest judge Casey Llewellyn writes: The subtle, emotional story and the sense of being quietly with Naomi’s characters in “The Virtual Present” will stay with me. I really appreciated the kindness of this story. I enjoyed the reading experience of “For The Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing” immensely. I found the voice and the theatrical implications exciting! Which is a rare joy. Naomi Bernstein and Ezekiel Mathur are both voices I want to hear more from!
About the judge: Casey Llewellyn is a writer and theater maker whose work interrogates identity, collectivity and form. Works for theatre include: O, Earth (commissioned and produced by the Foundry Theatre at HERE, January/February 2016), The Body Which Is the Town, Zaide!, Obsession Piece, The Quiet Way, Existing Conditions (cowritten with Claudia Rankine), and I Love Dick, an adaptation for theater of the book by Chris Kraus. Her essay “What We Could Do With Writing” appears in The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind edited by Claudia Rankine, Beth Loffreda, and Max King Cap.
The Lilian and Benjamin Levy Award
Awarded to the best review by an undergraduate student of a current play, film, music release, book, or performance
Winner: Clare Lombardo, review of the Royal Court Theatre production of Hangmen
Contest judge Ada Calhoun writes: This elegant review of the Martin McDonagh play Hangmen stands out for its wry, stylish writing. Lombardo is equally poised discussing the show’s aesthetics—the “umbrella-topped shadows across the windows”—and the social and political context of its death-penalty message. Better yet, the review is funny—as when Lombardo notes the “less-than-progressive” attitude of certain characters.
Second place: Peter LaBerge, review of Richie Hofmann’s Second Empire
Contest judge Ada Calhoun writes: “What do you do when you don’t fit tradition?” This is the question Peter LaBerge identifies as the guiding theme of Richie Hofmann’s debut poetry collection, Second Empire. With an effective use of quotes and a thoughtful interpretation of the poet’s reflections on shame and identity, LaBerge explores the book’s “emotional currents of insecurity and restraint” with both integrity and flair.
Third place: Ava Van der Meer, review of Jonathan Barrow’s On the Run with Mary
Contest judge Ada Calhoun writes: This enthusiastic review of Jonathan Barrow’s On the Run with Mary champions the book’s intoxicating “world of substance abuse, evil headmasters, bodily excrement, and sexual licentiousness.” Van der Meer matches the “witty energy” of the book with a clever, feisty style of her own.
Honorable mentions:
Amanda Silberling on Palehound’s Ellen Kempner
Mark Paraskevas on Indigold
About the judge: Ada Calhoun is author of the critically acclaimed new nonfiction book St. Marks Is Dead. She has been a freelance journalist for eighteen years, during which time she has written about culture for the New York Times, Billboard, and New York Magazine.
The Literary Translation Prize
Awarded to the best English-language translation of verse or prose from any language by a graduate or undergraduate student
Winner: Jordan Paul, translation of an excerpt from the novel Ephraim by Yoel Hoffman
Contest judge Marit MacArthur writes: This excerpt from the novel expresses the mundane details, existential disorientation and cultural and emotional weight of the vignettes in fresh, vivid language that does not call undue attention to itself and thus is beautiful. Every word choice is pitch-perfect, and the punctuation and syntax get across the narrative voice with idiosyncratic aptitude.
Second place: Lisa Cheung, translation of “La Niña Mala” by Monserrat Ordóñez Vilá
Contest judge Marit MacArthur writes: This is a very persuasive, idiomatic translation of the voice of the “good girl,” fantasizing about behaving as a bad girl—that is, like her father. Excellent management of deceptively simple, precise diction against syntactic surprises—a very skillful rendering indeed. This is publishable, nigh anthologizable. It would pair well with Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl.”
Third place: Angela Dion, translation of “Accade di Vedere” and “Ancora Siano I Seigni” by Annamaria Ferramosca
Contest judge Marit MacArthur writes: These are obviously brilliant poems in the Italian and very compelling in English, very nearly publishable, with a consistent voice and careful management of metaphor and sound.
Honorable Mentions:
Megan Gross, translation of “Spleen” by Charles Baudelaire
Meg Pendoley, translation of “Quiet” by Valeri Petrov
Naomi Bernstein, translation of “Set Free” by Gabriela Mistral
Madeline Penn, translation of “One Word” by Gabriela Mistral
About the judge: Marit MacArthur has published translations from the Polish and reviews of translations in World Literature Today, Verse, American Poetry Review, Poetry International, The Yale Review, and Contemporary Poetry Review. With Kacper Bartczak she curated “(Polish) Poetry after Rozewicz,” representing eleven contemporary Polish poets, in Jacket2 in November 2015. In 2008 she was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Lodz, Poland, where she worked on collaborative translation and the reciprocal influences of Polish and American modern and contemporary poetry.
The Gibson Peacock Prize for Creative Nonfiction
Awarded to the best creative nonfiction piece by an undergraduate student
Winner: “The Holy Boys” by Peter LaBerge
Contest judge Liz Arnold writes: I was very impressed with how this piece explored issues of identity in a well-structured narrative with humor, candor, and a poetic sensibility. LaBerge has a firm grasp on his material, which allowed the narrator in this piece to reflect on his younger self—a sophisticated quality that I think is rare in young writers.
Second place: “Lake Street” by Meg Pendoley
Contest judge Liz Arnold writes: I was immediately drawn into this work because of Pendoley’s ease with language; she makes it look effortless, and her reflection on selling a house through the narrative of a missing cat gave the piece emotional depth (“the cat gets to stage his trauma for days longer than the rest of us”). It also had a very successful use of time, moving from past to present without a hitch. I was reminded of “Lost Cat” by Mary Gaitskill.
Third place: “Oranges for the War God” by Kimberly Lu
Contest judge Liz Arnold writes: I liked how this piece uses Chinese mythology to paint a portrait of the grandfather—it’s educational and gives the work historical and cultural significance. (I always loved what Nabokov said about great writers, that they should be storytellers, educators, and enchanters. A lot of nonfiction lacks the education component, I think.) The trope of oranges is repeated several times, which keeps the piece feeling tightly focused and poetic as it moves through time and place.
About the judge: Liz Arnold’s prose has appeared or is forthcoming in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Ninth Letter, The New York Times, and online at The Paris Review and Catapult, among others. Her essays have placed in contests held by The Atlantic and Georgetown Review. Homebodies, her blog of photography and writing about the un-styled homes of people she visits, was profiled in The New York Times and elsewhere, and she now writes a column of the same name for Nylon magazine. Liz is a teaching artist in New York City public schools with Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and the Wall Street Journal recently wrote about her innovative teaching style. She holds an MFA in nonfiction from the Bennington Writing Seminars.
The Parker Prize for Journalistic Writing
Awarded to the best newspaper or magazine article, feature story, exposé or other piece of investigative journalism (published or unpublished) by an undergraduate student
Winner: “Maintenance Mayhem” by Dan Spinelli
Contest judge Molly Eichel writes: Incredibly well reported piece on maintenance issues at Penn. It’s not a sexy issue, but the writer really looks at every angle of this issue and how it affects the students who live on campus.
Second place: “The Dividing Line” by Jill Castellano and Casey Quackenbush
Contest judge Molly Eichel writes: Nicely reported piece on cocaine use at Penn. While I’m normally not a fan of so many anonymous sources, they were able to make these pseudonyms seems like real characters.
Third place: “2 Street” by Sarah Wilson
Contest judge Molly Eichel writes: Lovely piece of narrative journalism. Great characters.
About the judge: Molly Eichel is an assistant features editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where she writes and edits the television and weekend sections. She is also a contributor to the AV Club and Backstage magazine. Molly grew up in Philadelphia, where she spent a good deal of her time sitting too close to the television set.