We’re excited to announce the winners of the 2026 Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize! In poetry, Han VanderHart has been named the winner for their manuscript “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.” In fiction, Mialise Carney has been named the winner for her manuscript “What Girls Do Online & other stories.” Read more about the winners and finalists below.

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Poetry

The winner of the 2026 Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry is Han VanderHart for “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely,” chosen by guest judges Hilda Raz and Peggy Shumaker with Timothy Schaffert, Glenna Luschei Editor-in-Chief of Prairie Schooner. VanderHart will receive a $3,000 award and publication by the University of Nebraska Press.

Peggy Shumaker praised VanderHart’s poetry, writing, “These poems are spectacularly alive. Tender, sensual, intelligent, sexy as burnt longleaf pine. These poems claim the full humanity of sexual love. The tone ranges from exquisite tenderness to outrage to domestic harmony to unrestrained curiosity. The overwhelming message is that the only work is love.”

VanderHart is the author of Larks (Ohio University Press, 2025), winner of the 2024 Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, What Pecan Light (Bull City Press, 2021), and the chapbooks Hawk & Moon (Bottlecap Press, 2025) and Hands Like Birds (Ethel Zine, 2019). Their poetry and essays have been published in Poetry Daily, Kenyon Review, The American Poetry Review, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, AGNI, and elsewhere. VanderHart hosts Of Poetry Podcast and edits River River Books.

This year’s finalist manuscripts for poetry are “The Book of Registry” by Xander Gershberg, “Produce the Body” by Elidio La Torre Lagares, “Catch” by Wheeler Light, “Between Us, There is a Great Gulf Fixed” by Em Palughi, and “Render the Face” by Brandon Young.

Fiction

The winner of the 2026 Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction is Mialise Carney for her manuscript, “What Girls Do Online & other stories,” chosen by Schaffert and guest judges Christopher Castellani and Venita Blackburn. Carney will receive a $3,000 award and publication by the University of Nebraska Press.

Venita Blackburn praised Carney’s stories, saying, “This collection is sharp and merciless, quirky and fascinating, feminine and violent. The characters reflect the anxiousness of this world, stifled by the relentless hunt for improbable outcomes. The prose also manages an unexpected humor, surprise in the syntax that evokes the magic of living through such an absurd era with grace, acceptance and wonder.”

Carney’s stories and essays have appeared in swamp pink, Mid-American Review, Fugue, The Washington Square Review, and other places. She is a PhD student in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati, where she reads for The Cincinnati Review and teaches writing. 

This year’s finalist manuscripts in fiction are “Black Hole Burbia” by Dustin Hoffman, “A Forest Dark” by Laura Miller, “Learn to Love Your New Body: Stories,” by Laura Morris, and “Nobody Remains in the Garden” by Max Ross.

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The competition runs from Jan. 15 to March 15 annually. Submission details are available online. Previous winning poetry and fiction books are available through the University of Nebraska Press.

Founded in 1926, Prairie Schooner is a national literary quarterly published with the support of the English Department at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It publishes fiction, poetry, essays and reviews by beginning, mid-career and established writers. Visit the Nebraska Foundation site to support Prairie Schooner and the Raz-Shumaker Book Prize.