College of Arts and Sciences

Creative Writing Awards Archive

Below are links to the creative writing winner's pieces and the commentary from the professional judges.

To see pictures of them receiving their awards view Scholarships & Awards

Links are attached to the blog: https://elementswiu.org/featured-content/

2019 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

The entries were judged by Toni Jensen .

Toni Jensen is the author of Carry, a memoir-in-essays about gun violence,forthcoming from Ballantine. Her essays and stories have been published in journals such as Orion, Catapult and Ecotone, and have been anthologized widely. Her story collection, From the Hilltop, was published through the Native Storiers Series at the University of Nebraska Press. She teaches in the Programs in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas and in the Low Residency MFA at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is Métis.

On the story Jensen says: Marissa Purdum’s “The Dog Days” is a vivid, heart-wrenching account of her time as a homeless youth. Though the story itself is compelling, it’s Purdum’s execution of the story that makes it so—from watching her teddy bear be auctioned off, to the loss of her dog, each moment is rendered through clear-eyed details.

On the story Jensen says: Marcus Sweeten’s “A Dose of Change” looks straight at the experience of first love and first loss. Sweeten gives each scene, each moment through distinct scenes. In particular, the pool scene is lush and memorable for its language.

  • Third Place is Kendrick Keller with his story Flight

On the story Jensen says: Kendrick Keller’s “Flight” puts in motion everyday and also extraordinary experiences. The scenes move so well, and the language used to describe the college experience make each scene feel like something new, something strange but familiar.

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

The entries were judged by Brandon Hobson .

Brandon Hobson is the author of the novel Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction and winner of the Reading the West Book Award. His other books include the novels Deep Ellum and Desolation of Avenues Untold. His work has appeared in The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Believer, The Paris Review Daily, Conjunctions, NOON, Post Road, and in many other places. Beginning in fall 2019, he will be an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at New Mexico State University. Hobson is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma.

On the story Hobson says: I really loved the dialogue and playfulness in the prose. The writer maintains an urgency by being innovative with form. Great work.

  • Second Place is Angelique Herrera with her story Hush Hush

On the story Hobson says: I loved the sense of conflict right from the beginning. The writer was able to keep a consistent sense of immediacy and conflict throughout the story.

On the story Hobson says: I loved the prose here. Really beautiful writing, and very strong dialogue. Also, the pacing was really nice, which is very hard to do well; this writer succeeded.

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

The entries were judged by Justin Bigos .

Justin Bigos is the author of the poetry collection Mad River (Gold Wake, 2017), which was a finalist for the Emily Dickinson/Poetry Foundation First Book Award; as well as the chapbook Twenty Thousand Pigeons (iO, 2014). His poems, stories, essays, and interviews with poets appear in publications including New England Review, The Seattle Review, Ploughshares, Southern Indiana Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly, The Rumpus, and The Best American Short Stories 2015. Justin cofounded and coedits the literary magazine Waxwing. He has recently joined the faculty of the MFA Program in Writing & Publishing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and makes his home in Barre, VT.

On the poem Bigos says: Eric Short's poems look so hard at the world that the world looks back--and speaks: an America whose past and present overlap in "a hundred Missouri spring thunderstorms," the revving and belching of " '91 Pontiac Grand Prixs" and Beavis and Butthead, and the oily beads of sweat rolling down a glass during a drinking game. These poems are not things merely seen, but visions.

On the poem Bigos says: Marcus Sweeten's portraiture and self-portraiture collide and spark and flare in these beautiful poems of longing, conflagrations my mind cannot stamp out. They are nothing less than ars poetica and ekphrasis in the ancient traditions, and I salute them.

On the poem Bigos says: Janae Imeri's dreamy nostalgia has a rare honesty to it, a raw tenderness, an ache. And it is shaped into lyrics so particular to this poet's experience that, paradoxically, we feel their hot breath on our necks as if they were our own. In these poems I feel nothing less than wonder.

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2018 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st place – Cheyenne Rideaux – "Blue Aster"
  • 2nd place – Maria Chiaradonna – ?
  • 3rd place – Marissa Purdum – "Flipped"
  • Other – Austin Middleton – "To Love Is To Bury"

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

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2017 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

The entries were judged by Megan Stielstra . Megan Stielstra is the author of three books: The Wrong Way To Save Your Life(forthcoming August 2017 from Harper Perennial), Once I Was Cool (Curbside Splendor 2014), and Everyone Remain Calm (ECW/Joyland 2011). Her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Guernica, Buzzfeed, The Rumpus, and on National Public Radio. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University.

On the story Stielstra says: Terrific stuff. We covered so much time, so many places, so many characters and everything was constantly clear and focused, like the fragment theme laid out in the first paragraph (and immediately followed by the image of fragments, the broken green-glass beer bottle from the writer's earliest memory). I appreciated how, near the end of each memory fragment, there was a gut-punch of a line that wrapped up why the scene I'd just experienced was important to the overall idea of what we can't run away from, what we ca't shake. Specifically: "I became familiar with that word, potential," and "I reminded myself that I didn't cry." If Afolarin is interested in giving this essay another look, maybe consider how the last paragraph might echo back to the first paragraph, a repeat of language, perhaps?

On the story Stielstra says: I loved how visual this essay is, almost cinematographic, like watching a movie, while still giving us the full interior life of the narrator. The structure is excellent, too: different instances of how others see her - mother, photographer, friends, bully - before the final scene of how she sees herself. What stood out the most for me was the moment at the top of page 7 when she's looking outwards and telling us how she sees the beauty of her friends. If Rebecca is interested in giving this essay another look, maybe consider that same idea in the other sections? What she sees when she looks at her mother, the photographer, the bully....

  • 3rd place – Sarah Radtke – "Untitled"

On the story Stielstra says: I identified fiercely with this piece; how we examine our youthful obsessions with the greater wisdom of adulthood (but rarely do they have such a positive outcome as this! What an incredible story!). I also appreciated how Sarah moved us through time via technology. Made me think a lot about how social media has changed our access. If she's interested in giving this essay another look, I'd love to see the scene of that first concert she attended (seeing him onstage was the first time you saw him IRL, right? What was that like? The crowd, the music, etc.?), and hear some of the dialogue between her and Costner later to really understand how this experience move from a dream to a reality.

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

The entries were judged by Laura Pritchett . Laura Pritchett is the author of nine books. She began her writing journey in her early 20s with the short story collection Hell’s Bottom, Colorado, which won the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. This was followed by the novels Sky Bridge, Stars Go Blue, Red Lightning, and The Blue Hour. She’s the editor of three anthologies: Pulse of the River, Home Land, and Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers. She also has two nonfiction books: Great Colorado Bear Storiesand Making Friends with Death, Kind Of (due out Sept 2017). Her work has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, Salon, High Country News, The Millions, Publisher’s Weekly, The Sun, Brain, Child, and many others. www.laurapritchett.com

  • 1st place – Allen Dullin – "After the Fire"

On the story Pritchett says: This story captures a coming-of-age moment—a hard-earned wisdom—when the narrator glimpses a simple truth: “No longer did I think of myself or anyone else as invincible. Thoughts and beliefs that were concrete were in a state of flux, reshaped by lines of events.” In a brief connection between a young man and his uncle during at a wake, we feel the narrator grappling with his father’s death and his own uncertain future.

  • 2nd place – Cheyenne Rideaux – "Neverland"

On the story Pritchett says: What starts as a redux of the old classic fairytale turns dark and foreboding when we realize the power of addiction, old wounds, and the inherent problem with escape.

On the story Pritchett says: A surprising tragedy puts big questions on the table: the pull of friendship, the life-changing nature of one mistake, the importance of responsibility.

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

The entries were judged by Larry Jones . Larry Jones’ Publications and Prizes include the collections, We Become a Picnic: Selected Poems 1971-1983, Troubadour (CUNY, 2005) (Venom Press, 1994)Anthologies: ANYDSWPE Anthology Series (Rogue Scholars Press, 2014), Crossroads (Ikon Press, 1994), Downtown Poets 1999 (Montclair Takilma Publishing, 1999). He’s been published in magazines such as Perspecties and The Opiate and he has been the CUNYarts Fellow in 2005.

On the poems Jones says: In poems such as “We Grew Up” and “Scarred,” she assembles something of a bildungsroman of gender and social identity in the 21st century.

On the poems Jones says: Mystery, irony and the gothic romantically merge in the Moriarty of “My Lost Friend” and “silly sparkling teenaged vampires” of “Ars Poetica.”

On the poems Jones says: Seemingly disparate qualities and configurations as “sweet” and “sour” and “stains” and “glitter” are juxtaposed to promote a graphic ambiguity.

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2016 Creative Writing Award Winners

We are proud to announce the recipients of the 2016 Lois C. Burner Awards in Creative Nonfiction, Cordell Larner Awards in Fiction, and Cordell Larner Awards in Poetry. The submissions were very competitive, and we regret having so few awards to give. Thank you for your submissions, and congratulations to all the recipients!

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

The entries were judged by Scott Black.

On the story Black says: I like that the questions are complex, the answers numerous.  Mostly, I miss the grandpa, and will carry with me the poignant image of the author’s mother using a wet sponge to moisten the lips of her dying father.

On the story Black says: This essay is raw, urgent. It contains lot of anger, but also vulnerability and tenderness.

On the story Black says: The voice is likable and energetic, and the conflict it addresses (warriors re-integrating into society after battle) is at on one hand ancient and universal, and on the other, personal, specific, and very relevant to contemporary times.

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

The entries were judged by Steve Edwards : Steve Edwards is the author of the memoir Breaking into the Backcountry, the story of his half-year in solitude as the caretaker of a remote homestead in Oregon. You can find him on twitter at @The_Big_Quiet

  • 1st place – Kateline Deushane – "Solitude"

On the story Edwards says: I loved her sentences--the surprises in them, the metaphor and humor. This story does such a nice job of moving us through time with a light touch, building upon itself as it goes. I appreciated the layers of meaning she was able to get in there. Very successful story.

On the story Edwards says: There's an intensity here, a sub-current of meaning, that really draws me in. I liked the lyricism and the freedom of the form--the way the words swim around the page. It seemed to work for a story like this one that is so internal and insight driven.

  • 3rd place – Jon Naskrent – "Lorelei"

On the story Edwards says: There's an instant appeal for me here--to be young again and writing letters from a far-flung place. I identified with the characters and enjoyed getting to know them through the stories that are told.

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

The entries were judged by Christopher Hennessy . Christopher Hennessy is the author of Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets. He earned an MFA from Emerson College and currently is a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Hennessy is a longtime associate editor for The Gay & Lesbian Review-Worldwide.

On the poems Hennessy says: Mr. Naskrent’s poems are steeped in the concrete world, the senses, and vivid and memorable details that layer his poems with at turns a subtlety and a complexity. They take risks. The poems endings show us that the poet understands how to create a realization in the reader that what he or she has just experienced in the poem will always escape any effort to translate it into prose.

On the poems Hennessy says: Ms. James' poems' strengths reside in the unique and powerful voice the speaker inhabits; she evokes such a richly layered interiority with a striking economy of language matched only by the poems' feeling of authenticity. Her poems were confident at every step, bold but vulnerable, a great feat in that combination.

On the poems Hennessy says: Ms. Garon's poetry is polished and precise, with a strong sense of line and the ability to craft an arresting image.

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2015 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

  • 1st place – Kirsten Dillender
  • 2nd place – Sandra Sepaniak
  • 3rd place – Alyson Eagan

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st place – Emilee Cox-Deboer
  • 2nd place – Kimberly Ackers
  • 3rd place – Katelin Deushane

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

  • 1st place – Kimberly Ackers
  • 2nd place – Matthew Medley
  • 3rd place – Jon Naskrent

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2014 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

  • 1st Place - Sarah Lambach
  • 2nd Place - Di Ann Vulich
  • 3rd Place - Juliana Goodman

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 2nd Place - Corin Bodenhamer
  • 3rd Place - Zachary McGowan

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

  • 1st Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 3rd Place - Victoria Drews

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All Creative Writing Winners before 2014 are in our physical books in Simpkins Hall 124....

 

2013 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

  • 1st Place - Dustin Burnaugh
  • 2nd Place - Kyle Dexter
  • 3rd Place - Juliana Goodman

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st Place - Aaron Winkelman
  • 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 3rd Place - Andrew Costigan

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

  • 1st Place - Dustin Burnaugh
  • 2nd Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 3rd Place - Zachary Share

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2012 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

  • 1st Place - Jerry Taylor
  • 2nd Place - Joshua Gentile
  • 3rd Place - Thomas E. Boyd

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st Place - Dustin Burnaugh
  • 2nd Place - Hannah Ross
  • 3rd Place - Kyle Dexter

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

  • 1st Place - Juliana Goodman
  • 2nd Place - James Black
  • 3rd Place - Aaron Winkelmann

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2011 Creative Writing Award Winners

Lois C. Bruner Creative Nonfiction Award

  • 1st Place - Adam Brown
  • 2nd Place - Joann Brennan
  • 3rd Place - Josue Hernandez

Cordell Larner Award in Fiction

  • 1st Place - Kelsey Yoder
  • 2nd Place - William Nixon
  • 3rd Place - Joann Brennan

Cordell Larner Award in Poetry

  • 1st Place - Adam Brown
  • 2nd Place - Hannah Ross
  • 3rd Place - Ryan Roby

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2010 Creative Writing Award Winners

Cordell Larner Award: Fiction

  • First place: Jeremy Jasper
  • Second place: Mark Piekos
  • Third place: Ryan Roby

Lois C. Bruner Literary Nonfiction Award

  • First place: Juliene Soltwisch
  • Second place: Matthew Hamilton
  • Third place: Jeremy Jasper

Cordell Larner Award: Poetry

  • First place: Dustin Burnaugh
  • Second place: Adam Brown
  • Third place: Kyle Furlane

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