Writing Prize Competition 2025 Results

Academy of American Poets Prize: Best single poem.

1st Plae: Lili Alimohammadi 

2nd Place : Natalie Eisenman 

Judge: S. Yarberry

S. Yarberry is a trans poet and writer. Their poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming, in AGNI, Guernica, Tin House, Indiana Review, jubilat, The Boiler, miscellaneous zines, among others. They currently run the little magazine Tyger Quarterly. S. has their MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a PhD candidate in literature at Northwestern University where they study William Blake. 

English Composition Prize: Outstanding Essays written for an ENGL1000, 1001, 1002, 1012 or 2089 class. 

1st Place: Christ-Ivann Degni 

Tie for 2nd Place:  Milo Anderson and Winston Abedi

Judges: Beverly Brannan, Jennifer Glaser, and Ron Hundemer

 

Hopton Short Story Prize: Best short story of 12 pages or less.

1st Place: Isabella Gordo 

Honorable mention: Evan Trimbur 

Judges: Chris Bachelder, Mike Hennessey, Jennifer Glaser, 

 

Jean Chimsky Poetry Prize: Outstanding group of three to five poems.

Winner: Lili Alimohammadi 

Honorable Mention:  Khara Rosebrook 

Judges: Lisa Ampleman, Julia Carlson

 

Literary Nonfiction Prize: Best submission of 10 pages or less. 

Winner: Niki Acosta 

Tie for Honorable Mention: Shane Johnson and Lili Alimohammadi 

Judges:  Michael Griffith, Laura Micciche, Gary Vaughn

 

Playwriting Prize: Best drama or play.

Winner: Ibn Whitfield 

Judges: Chris Bachelder, Mike Hennessey

 

Professional Writing Prize: Excellence in professional writing.

1st Place: Phoebe Gaffney 

2nd Place: Madison Kim 

3rd Place: Paige Hedger 

Judges: Teresa Cook, Mariah Kemp, Katie Powell, Chenxing Xie

 

Robinson Essay Prize: Outstanding essay.

1st Place: Khara Rosebrook

2nd Place: Maggie Sheridan 

Tie for 3rd Place: Lili Alimohammadi and McKenna Riley 

Judges: Christopher Carter, Cheli Reutter, Leah Rubinsky 

 

Screenplay Prize: Best short screenplay of 10 pages or less. 

1st Place: Ainsley Smith 

Judges: Chris Bachelder, Mike Hennessey

 

Shakespeare Prize:  Best essay written on Shakespeare.

1st Place: Jennifer Dirr 

2nd Place:  Nehalem Chudnoff 

Judges: Beverly Brannan,  Joanna Huh, Mary Leech

 

Staples Capstone Prize:  Best capstone project in any English capstone course this academic year.

Winner: Abby Taggart 

Judges: Lisa Beckelhimer, Mike Hennessey, Cheli Reutter 

 

Academy of American Poets Prize: Best single poem.

Winner: Erin Noehre

Honorable Mention: Holli Carrell

Judge: Ginger Ko

Ginger Ko is an Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University's MFA program in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing. She is the author of Motherlover (Bloof Books) and Inherit (Sidebrow), as well as several chapbooks. Her poetry and essays can be found in The Atlantic, American Poetry Review, The Offing, VIDA Review, and elsewhere. 

Hatfield/Westheimer Short Story Prize: Best short story of 10 pages or less.

First Prize: Daniel Hunt

Second Prize: Daniel Galef 

Third Prize:  Kira Homsher 

Tie for Honorable Mention: Sam Simas and Kate Jayroe 

Judge: Ananda Lima

Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024) and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize.  Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in Ghosts of Where We Are From, an anthology of dark fiction by Latin American authors, edited by Cynthia Pelayo (Primer Sueño/Atria Books). She is a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio, Chicago. Lima was a mentor at the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program and the inaugural Latinx-in-Publishing WIP Fellow, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers. She has an MA in Linguistics (UCLA) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Rutgers-Newark). Craft, her fiction debut, was longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. The New York Times describes it as “a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent in speculative fiction.” Originally from Brazil, she lives in Chicago and New York.

 

Jean Chimsky Poetry Prize: Outstanding group of three to five poems.

Winner: Paige Webb 

Judge: Lindsay Turner 

A poet, critic, and translator, Lindsay Turner is the author of the poetry collections The Upstate (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and Songs & Ballads (Prelude Books, 2018). Her translations from the French include books by Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anne Dufourmantelle, Stéphane Bouquet, Frédéric Neyrat, Richard Rechtman, Ryoko Sekiguchi, and others. Her translation of Bouquet's The Next Loves was longlisted for the National Translation Awards, shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award, and named a New York Times top 10 poetry collection of 2019, and she has twice received French Voices Grants for her translation work. Originally from northeast Tennessee, she lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Case Western Reserve University.

 

Literary Nonfiction Prize: Best submission of 10 pages or less. 

1st Place: Daniel Hunt 

2nd Place: Kira Homsher 

Honorable Mention: David LeGault 

Judges: Michael Griffith, Laura Micciche, Gary Vaughn

 

Playwriting Prize: Best play.
No award given this year

 

Professional Writing Prize: Excellence in professional writing.

No award given this year. 

 

Robin Sheets Critical Essay Prize: Best critical essay. 

1st Place: Erin Noehre 

Tie for 2nd Place: Joseph Ozias and Daniel Galef 

3rd Place: Daniel Hunt 

Honorable Mention: Kate Jayroe 

Judges: Christopher Carter, Cheli Reutter, Leah Rubinsky 

 

Shakespeare Prize:  Best essay written on Shakespeare.

1st Place: Sam Simas 

2nd Place: Daniel Hunt 

Judges: Beverly Brannan, Joanna Huh, Mary Leech