2017 Prairie Schooner Award Winners Announced!

Thanks to generous supporters of the literary arts, Prairie Schooner was able to award eighteen writing prizes totaling $8,500 for work published by established and emerging writers in 2016.

Denise Duhamel and Julie Marie Wade of Hollywood, Florida, received the $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award for their collaborative essay “13 Superstitions” published in the Fall 2016 issue. The Glenna Luschei Award is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher, and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

The $1,000 Lawrence Foundation Award for the best short story published in Prairie Schooner in 2016 was given to David Crouse, of Seattle, WA, for his story “I’m Here” from the Spring 2016 issue. This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City and its director, Leonard S. Bernstein.

The $1,000 Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing was given to Alireza Taheri Araghi, of St. Louis, MO, for his story “Snow” from the Fall 2016 issue. The Faulkner Award is supported by charitable contributions to honor Virginia Faulkner, former editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press and Prairie Schooner fiction editor.

The $1,000 Edward Stanley Award for poetry was given to Genevieve Williams, of Omaha, NE, for four poems in the Fall 2016 issue. This award is made possible through charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926.

The $500 Bernice Slote Award for the best work by a beginning writer was given to Kaitlyn Teer, of Bellingham, WA, for her essay “Drawing A Breath” from the Summer 2016 issue. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, Prairie Schooner editor from 1963 through 1980.

The $500 Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award for the best poem or group of poems was given to David Campos of Clovis, CA, for three poems in the special food-themed portfolio of the Winter 2016 issue. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

The $250 Hugh J. Luke Award was given to Rigoberto Gonzalez for his essay “Adelina” in the Spring 2016 issue. The Hugh J. Luke Award was established in memory of Prairie Schooner’s editor from 1980 through 1987.

The $250 Jane Geske Award was given to Rachel Heng of London, UK, for her story “The Vegetarian” from the Summer 2016 issue. The award is given by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, Jane Geske, a lifelong support of Nebraska’s literary arts.

Ten writers received annual Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards for $250 each. These awards are made possible through the generosity of Glenna Luschei.

Matthew Shenoda, of Evanston, IL, for his essay “Damming the Nile” in the Summer issue

Brynne Rebele-Henry, of Richmond, VA, for her story “The Small Elf People” in the Summer issue

Kirun Kapur, of Amesbury, MA, for her poem “Parvati at Her Bath” in the Summer issue

Afaa Michael Weaver, of West Conway, CT, for his poem, “East Baltimore, Fried Chicken,” in the Winter issue

Christopher Salerno, of Caldwell, NJ, for his poem “Sorrow, Architecture,” in the Fall issue

Philip Huynh, of Richmond, British Columbia for the story “The Abalone Diver” in the Winter issue

Laura Kolbe, of Boston, MA, for her poem, “Garter, Copper, Water” in the Winter issue

Paul Martin, of Allentown, PA, for his poem “The Radish,” in the Spring issue

Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of Oxford, MS, for the essay “How to Make Halo-Halo Last” in the Winter issue

Kerry Cullen, of Queens, NY, for her story “Parts” in the Spring issue

Prairie Schooner is published with support from the University of Nebraska Press, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln English Department and its creative writing program, and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation. Subscriptions may be ordered by visiting https://prairieschooner.unl.edu. You can also follow Prairie Schooner on Twitter and Facebook.