Past Winners
2021 Contest Winners
Documentary
WINNER: “Common Memory Project” by Carolina Hotchandani
Runners-Up: “Bittersweet” by Trevor Stephenson and “A Musician Who Can’t Tolerate Sound” by Janet Horvath
Poetry
WINNER: “Drinks on the Porch 2020” by Mara Naselli, in collaboration with Gil Teixeira and Liza Barley
Runners-Up (alphabetically): “47834” by Brian Beatty and “Great Grandmother Quartet” by Laura Budofsky Wisniewski
Prose
WINNER: “Time Travel” by Toni Ann Johnson
Runners-Up: “For Frank Ponomarenko, For Feeding The Birds” by Mohan Fitzgerald and “Decoys” by Greg November
Humor
WINNER: “Life Stories” by Paul Richmond
Runners-Up: “Vox Rex” by Robert Morgan Fisher and “Ambrosia in Correspondence” by Anya Krawcheck
2020 Contest Winners
Documentary
WINNER: “Climb When Ready,” Arlie Adlington
Runner-Up: “Going Home: Voices of the Condemned,” Pinckney Benedict
Poetry
WINNER: “Playing, just for you,” Marcel Price
Runner-Up: “Complete,” Troy Varvel
Prose
WINNER: “The Bird I Held in My Hand: Claudia, 41,” M.D. Reynolds
Runner-Up: “End of the World,” Rachael Cerrotti
Humor
WINNER: “Everything is Alive: The Magic 8 Ball,” Ian Chillag
Runner-Up: “Quarantine Careers: Voiceover Edition,” Tess Adams
2019 Contest Winners
Documentary
WINNER: “How to Make an American Pi Quilt,” Stephen Ornes
Runner-Up: “The Story of the Edwin Hawkins Singers’ ‘Oh Happy Day,’” Alex Lewis
Poetry
WINNER: “Doncellas,” Leah V. Gonzalez
Runner-Up: “Moses Boys,” Rohan Ayinde
Prose
WINNER: “Inheritance,” Mandi Jourdan
Runner-Up: “How to Survive a Fire,” Rachel Ann Brickner
Humor
WINNER: “Simon Says,” Megan Mack & Thank You Kiss
Runner-Up: “8 Missed Calls,” Will Holcomb
2018 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: “Date Paintings” by Julie Moon
Runner-Up: “Fragments Torn From Sky” by Rob Shapiro
Prose
WINNER: “The Roof of the World (Part 1)” by Claire O’Connor
Runner-Up: “Don’t Know Tough” by Eli Cranor
Audio Documentary
WINNER: “sobre la guayaba y la gente gay” by Stefania Gomez
Runner-Up: “Let It Beep” by Mark Bramhill
Humor
WINNER: “Book Club” by Adam Frick
Runner-Up: “Black Folks Ain’t Always Late” by Jonathan Samuel Eddie
2017 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: “Crossings” by Michael Jennings
Runner-Up: Poetry selections by Ingrid Wendt
Prose
WINNER: “Appalachian Sprung” by Mariflo Stephens
Runner-Up: “Does a Semiotic Dog Bite?” by Jill Morstad
Audio Documentary
WINNER: “Short of Breath” by Ryan Sweikert
Runner-Up: “Send Me Your Location” by Andrea Rangecroft
Humor
WINNER: “Toccata” by Mira Burt-Wintonick and Cristal Duhaime
Runner-Up: “How to Write a Poem That Costs You $175,000 Plus the Lady” by Aaron McKain
2016 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: “Watch Us Elocute” by Marcus Wicker
Runner-Up: “Picasso Baby” by Fable the Poet
Prose
WINNER: “Two Worlds” by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Runner-Up: “The Sitter Dispatch” by Dennis Funk and Maya Goldberg-Safir
Documentary
WINNER: “Crying Dry Tears” by Ibby Caputo
Runner-Up: “South Florida’s Graffiti Problem in the ‘90s Had an Emblem: Crook Crime” by Julia Duba
Humor
WINNER: “Yoga Dogs” by Colleen Pellessier
Runner-Up: “Bek Mekages: The Mystery of Sunny Delight (Part 1)” by Nathan Blanchard
2015 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: “Notes on his poems by a guy who observed them in their natural habitat” by Kevin McIlvoy
Runner-Up: “Thresher” by Kai Carlson-Wee (with music by Channing Showalter)
Prose
WINNER: “Leaving Los Angeles” by Alison Byrne
Runner-Up: “Vox Rex” by Robert Morgan Fisher
Documentary
WINNER: “Lance and Nina: A Story of Addiction and Redemption” by Karen Brown
Runner-Up: “Heartland, Missouri” by Abigail Keel
Humor
WINNER: “Chicken Cutlets, Cleavage & Compromise” by Jaime Lowe
Runner-Up: “This is how I thought things were done…sorry” by Erin Drew
2014 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: “Diary of Collected Summers” by Sam Roderick Roxas-Chua
Runner-Up: Poetry selections by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
Prose
WINNER: Steve De Jarnatt’s short story “Eggtooth”
Runner-Up: Joshua Wheeler’s radio essay “Ugly Pew”
Documentary
WINNER: Abby Wendle and Sarah Geis for “To be Normal”
Runner-Up: Diane Hope for “Lonely Nights”
2013 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: Laurel Bastian for her poem “We All Want Out of this Play”
Runner-Up: Henry Finch for his poem “Key Largo”
Prose
WINNER: Anna Vodicka for her essay “In Search of Magic Kingdoms”
Documentary
WINNER: “The Storm” Produced by Kenny Malone and the WLRN-Miami Herald News team
Runner-Up: “Teen Contender” Produced by Joe Richman, Sue Jaye Johnson and Samara Freemark, Edited by Deborah George and Ben Shapiro with Marianne McCune
2012 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: Chloe Honum for her poem “Spring”
Runner-Up: Elijah Burrell, “RC and Little Faye” and “Change of Song”
Prose
WINNER: Beth Morgan for her story “Sanderstown Testimonials”
Runner-Up: Daniel DiStefano, “The New Neighbor in Barnum and Bailey Retirement City”
Documentary
WINNER: Emma Weatherill for her documentary “Nuns on Trial”
Runner-Up: Rachel Coonce, “A Brief Investigation into the Origins of a Cookie Memory”
2011 Contest Winners
Poetry
WINNER: Greg Brownderville for his poem “Sex and Pentacost”
First Runner-Up:
Katie Schmid for her poem “Bird Heart”
Finalists:
Henry Finch, “Continuous Form”
Kate Asche, “Know/Don’t Know”
Prose
WINNER: Rachel Yoder for her essay “I’m White and I’m Mennonite”
First Runner-Up:
Bill Ratner for his essay “The Archiving of an I Love Lucy Bit-Part Player”
Finalists:
Claire Noble, “State-Sponsored Sex”
Katie McMurran and Heidi Darchuk, “Arrowhead Lake”
Kathleen G. White, “About the Weather”
Ken Cormier, “A Day in the Life of a Conversationalist”
Self-Recorded Documentary
WINNER: Ken Cormier for “Voices of the Dead”
First Runner-Up:
Amy Schleunes for “The Body Instrument”
Finalists:
Molly Bennett, “Chuck Lakin, Woodworker”
Mark Munger, “Food For Thought”
Molly Graham, “Besides Life Here”
Judith Sloan, “Tongues Twisting”
Professionally-Recorded Documentary
WINNER: Anna Pinkert for “After the Flood”
First Runner-Up:
Lulu Miller for “Falling in Love”
2009 Contest Winners
First Place
Austin Bunn, “Basement Story”
Second Place
Brenda Ann Kenneally, Lu Olkowski, and Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, “Women of Troy”
Editors’ Prize Finalists
Rachel Yoder, “The Thing at the Foot of the Bed”
Hillary Frank, “Lucy & The Bike Girl”
Molly O’Dell, “Triage: Poems”
Alethea Black, “Letter to Cornelia Street Cafe”
Richard Sonnenmoser, “Other Women”
2008 Contest Winners
Narrative Essay
First place, $1,000: Judith Sloan, “Dayenu”
First runner-up: Judith Sloan, “What’s Your Status”
Second runner-up: Nancy M. Williams, “’Reverie’ Reclaimed”
Documentary
First place, $1,000: Lauren Kirby, “Love Triangle”
First runner-up and best student entry: Ken Cormier, “Dad’s Naughty Pictures”
Second runner-up: Karen Brown, “Love, War, & PTSD”
Creative Nonfiction
First place, $500: Rachael Hanel, “Smoke Rings”
First runner-up: Robert V. Wolf, “Mary Lee”
Second runner-up: Sue Mell, “Foreign Land”
Best student entry: Kristin S. vanNamen, “Personal Assistant Needed”
Fiction
First place, $500: Ann Rosenquist Fee, “Annunciation of the Baby Jesus One Block North of Riverfront Dr.”
First runner-up and best student entry: Kristin S. vanNamen, “Glorie in a Small Town”
Poetry
First place, $500: Douglas Collura, “Living the Life of the Great Buster Keaton”
First runner-up: Alex Grant, “Fear of Moving Water”
Second runner-up: Todd Boss, “There’s a Guy in L.A. Who Charges a Premium Teaching Men How To Get Women”
Best student entry: Marcus Wicker, “The Life Expectancy of a Fruit Fly”
Video
Creative Short
First place, $500: Anne Lewis, “Separate Vacations”
First runner-up: Ryan Scammell, “A Length of Time Is Measured By the Space Between 2 Hands”
Second runner-up: Tim Wilson, “The Clam Diggers”
Documentary
First place, $500: Basia Winograd, “The Unhappy Traveler: A New Yorker in India”
First runner-up: Bill Bonde, “Inventing the G-Suit: the Life Story of Dr. Earl Wood”
Second runner-up: Dmae Roberts, “Coming Home”
Best student entries: Lucie Schwartz, “Nokota” and Brian White, “The Palmyra Massacre”
2007 Contest Winners
Narrative Essay
First place, $1,000: Judith Sloan, “Sweeping Statements”
First runner-up: Kris Saknussemm, “Cahoots”
Second runner-up: Richard Paul, “Fighting With My Dad”
Documentary
First place, $1,000: Lu Olkowski, “Grandpa”
First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Richard Paul, “Shakespeare in Black and White”
Second runner-up: Ken Cormier, “The Secret Pianos of Manhattan”
Third runner-up: Dan Collison, “Lord God Bird”
10-minute play
First place, $500: Kris Saknusemm: “Memory Wound”
First runner-up: George Zarr: “Old Dog/Newer Tricks”
Second runner-up: Sue Zizza, National Audio Theatre Festivals, “Avian Invasion”
Voice-only Literature
Creative Nonfiction
First place in Voice-only Literature category and Creative Nonfiction subcategory, $500: Albert Haley, “The Cough”
First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Lisa K. Buchanan, “All That I Missed”
Second runner-up: Randolph Jordan, “A Death in the Family”
Third runner-up: Angela Cervantes, “A House of Women”
Flash Fiction
First place in subcategory and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Josh McDonald, “Lost”
First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Jithendria Kumar Aravamudhan, “Memoirs of a Mad Man”
Poetry
First place in subcategory and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Todd Boss, “To Wind a Mechanical Toy”
First runner-up: Todd Boss, “Yellow Rocket”
Second runner-up: Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, “The Golden Lesson”
Third runner-up: Eric Torgersen, “Taking Tickets”
Fourth runner-up: Josh McDonald, “Women in Strange Trousers”