Literary prizes awarded for work published in 2024
With generous supporters of the literary arts, Prairie Schooner was able to award fifteen writing prizes totaling $7,750 for work published by established and emerging writers in the previous year’s editions.
Emily Black received the $2,000 Lawrence Foundation Award for the best short story published in Prairie Schooner for “Boyish,” published in the Winter 2024 issue. This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City and its late director, Leonard S. Bernstein.
The winner of the $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award is iheoma uzomba for three poems published the in the Fall 2024 issue. This award is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher, and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.
Two $500 Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing awards were given to Sonja Livingston for the essay “Joseph the Worker” published in Fall 2024 and Marcia Lynx Qualey for the story “Echoes of a Dead Language” published in Winter 2024. The Faulkner awards are supported by charitable contributions to honor Virginia Faulkner, former editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press and Prairie Schooner fiction editor.
Two Edward Stanley awards of $250 were given to Felicia Zamora for two poems published in Winter 2024 and Marilyn Hacker and Deema K. Shehabi for “Water to Water: A Renga for Gaza” published in Winter 2024. These awards are made possible through charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926.
The 2024 winner of the $500 Bernice Slote Award for the best work by a beginning writer was Dana Fang for the story “Outdoor Education” published in the Fall 2024 issue. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, who worked as a Prairie Schooner editor from 1963-1980.
The Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award of $500 for the best poem or group of poems published was awarded to Brenda Cárdenasfor three poems published in the Fall 2024 issue. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.
Matthew Daddona won the 2023 Hugh J. Luke Award of $250 for “Me, You, the Young Man, the Dying Wife, and the Watch” published in the Fall 2024 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 Urvi Kumbhat for three poems featured in the Fall 2024 issue. This award is provided by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, Jane Geske, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska’s literary arts.
Five writers were awarded annual Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards for $250 each:
- Gabriel Houck for the story “Signal/Noise” in Fall 2024
- Emily Khilfeh for the poem “Poem with Genocide in the Title” in Summer 2024
- Divya Mehrish for the essay “The Opposite of Tragedy” in Fall 2024
- Nina C. Peláez for the poem “Still Life” in Fall 2024
- Nadeem Zaman for the story “Special Registration” in Winter 2024
These awards are made possible through the generosity of Glenna Luschei.
Prairie Schooner is published with support from the University of Nebraska Press, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of English and its Creative Writing Program and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation.
Prairie Schooner welcomes and appreciates gifts in support of its annual prizes. Visit the Nebraska Foundation website here or here to make a gift.