91热爆网

High School Competition

Prize in Fiction

1st place - $250
2nd place - $100
3rd place - $50

1st place: 鈥淲orking or Hardly Working,鈥� Jayden Norman (Swain County High School)

2nd place: 鈥淭he Store that Doesn鈥檛 Exist,鈥� Kat Rodrigu茅 (Martin L. Nesbitt Jr. Nesbitt Discovery Academy)

3rd place:  "Untitled," Lila Needham (Millbrook High School)

Finalists:

• 鈥淪tupid Cupid鈥� by Cooper Carroll (Swain County High School)
• 鈥淗ummingbird鈥� by Putu Mahardika (Swain County High School)
• 鈥淕ummy Bears鈥� by Zoey Zhang (Providence High School)

Judged by 91热爆网 English Studies faculty.

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Prize in Nonfiction

1st place - $250
2nd place - $100
3rd place - $50

1st place: "Roots," Akshara Gudipati (Providence High School)

2nd place: "Girlhood," Eli Cameron Jones (Longleaf School of the Arts)

3rd place:  "Migrant Student," Jose Arevalo (Willow Spring High School)

Finalists:

• 鈥淣ot Enough,鈥� Jamileh Rojas Ciriaco (North Wake College and Career Academy)
• 鈥淢y Identity Mosaic鈥� Yamile Cruz (North Wake College and Career Academy)
• 鈥淔ood for Worms鈥� Ella Day (Asheville High School)
• 鈥淐hasing the Skies,鈥� Putu Mahardika (Swain County High School)

Judged by 91热爆网 English Studies faculty.

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Prize in Poetry

1st place - $250
2nd place - $100
3rd place - $50

1st place: 鈥淕alileo鈥檚 Suicide Note,鈥� Ava Primak (Apex Friendship High)

2nd place: 鈥渄ormancy,鈥� Molly Young (Providence High School)

3rd place: 鈥渨hat was learned while eavesdropping on a murder of crows,鈥� Angela Laboy (Longleaf School of the Arts) 

Finalists:

• 鈥淭he Little Spaces,鈥� Ariel Baiye (Marvin Ridge High School)
• 鈥淥ur Hair,鈥� Alijah George (Swain County High School)
• 鈥淥de to a Black Girl,鈥� Angel Mitchell-Morris (Enloe High School)

Judged by 91热爆网 English Studies faculty

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Litfest Undergraduate Creative Writing Competition

Kathryn Stripling Byer Prize in Poetry

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: "broken bottle," Noble Keller

Judge's note: I appreciate the economy of language, the intensity of the situation presented in the opening two lines, the use of rhyme and wordplay. I can see the work of the poet's ear.

Runner-up: "Ode to a Mutt," Austin Knepper

Judge's note: "You can hear lies; smell my rot"--this line and many others are so evocative and far beyond cliche. The ending hits.

• "Developing photo of a young girl," Kaelyn Colburn
• "Orange remains," Kaelyn Colburn
• "Dark, Cold, Wet," Elizabeth Willis
• "good ol鈥� barn," Noble Kelker

Judged by author of the poetry collection (2024) and the co-editor of (2023). 

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Prize in Fiction

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: 鈥淪ister-Fiddle,鈥� Lillie Wieder

Judge's note: This is a striking and haunting story about sisters and betrayal. The energetic, lyrical prose immediately drew me in and carried me through this dark, surprising, and delightfully weird fairytale.

Runner-up: 鈥淎 Time Before The Once,鈥� Caroline Elias

Judge's note: This story offers a feminist retelling of the traditional Snow White fairytale. In this unique version, the writer imagines the life of Snow White鈥檚 mother鈥攁 victim of domestic violence鈥攁nd shares her story. 

Finalists:

• "Broken Remedies," Mage Naef
• "Beasts of Our Labor,"  Jared Ross
• "A Five-Step Guide to Living After the Time Loop," Cynthia Warren

Judged by author of the novel , winner of the 2021 Southern Book Prize and the Weatherford Award, and , which was adapted into a feature film by the same name in 2020.

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Prize in Literary Nonfiction

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: "Butterfly," Alana McLaughlin

Judge's note: Covering an impressive emotional and intellectual range, this essay also managed to surprise me at nearly every turn, both in language and focus. A delight to read, but also a read that made me think. 

Runner-up: "The Orange Tree," Avery Luft

Judge's note: A studied look at place, this narrative essay paints an aching and gorgeous picture of childhood while also revealing how loss is so often present in our care for what remains. This one will stay with me for a long time.  

Finalists:

• "The Radio," Avery Luft
• "Second-Sleeve Syndrome," Charlie Goodson
• "Compressed," Amber Kincheloe
• "Hand Me Downs," Rachel Clegg

Judged by , contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of two books of narrative nonfiction: (2023) and (2018).  

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Grad Lit Competition 

Prize in Fiction

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: "Dying Business," Hannah McLeod

Judge's note: "Dying Business" is a darkly comic story full of miscalculations and misunderstandings about the ways normal flawed people show love for one another. Full of surprising moments and hard-won tenderness, McLeod weaves a highly satisfying narrative. 

Runner-up: "Stacey," Aimee Kling

Judge's note: In "Stacey," the reader is treated to a bracing and structurally adventurous story that does quite a lot in a few pages. Rather than aim for salaciousness, this work lends a humanity to the protagonist while maintaining a sure-handed pace. 

Finalists:

• "DreamWorld," Sommer Allen
• "Going to See a Man About a Dog," LM. Hudson
• "Holding Water," Chaz Lilly
• "Singing like Gravy," Brian Longacre
• "The Rabbit," Johnny Holloway
• "Tommy Lee鈥檚 Legs," Anna Robertson

Judged by author of two novels-- (2024) and (2019)--and the New York Times Editor鈥檚 Choice short story collection (2021). 

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Prize in Poetry

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: "Rising," Elizabeth Fisher

Judge's note: The pantoum form serves this poem well, the repetition elevating the thoughtful, almost mantra-like aspects. The poem gives a sense of slowly spiraling upwards, an ascension effectively reverberated in the title.

Runner-up: "A Hollow Tree," Daniel Alcocella

Judges note: This poem has a haunting, fable-like quality that asked me to reread it again and again. Invocative of the oral tradition of poetry/storytelling in a way that is very difficult to capture on the page, but this poem accomplishes that excellently.

Finalists:

• "Four Words," Brian Longacre
• "Commanding the Troops," Amelia Allman

• 鈥淭he Attack of Culicidae,鈥� Faith Brooks

• "If You Sit Quietly Beside the Creek," Johnny Holloway 

• "My uterus is attacking me," Hannah McLeod 

•  "

  Slant,"

   Aimee Kling

   

Judged by author of All the Places We Love Have Been Left in Ruins (2024), (2022), (2020), and (2017). 

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Prize in Nonfiction

Winner - $250

Runner-up - $100

Winner: "Falling: A Lyrical Memoir," Braulio Fonseca

Judge's note: This essay is fierce, furious, and confoundingly creative. It reads like a modern Odyssey, a human in search of himself. The words read as if falling through the mind. The details are rendered not just through the language but through the use of style and movement on the page. Every part of this essay was brilliant.

Runner-up: "The House of Eyes," Morgan Winstead

Judge's note: This is a sparse and keenly observed essay. There is something in it of a Rose for Miss Emily. The story of an outsider, watching a neighbor, never knowing but only guessing and what lies within. The beauty of this essay is in its withholdings, lack of editorializing, and specific details. It's the story of a commonplace tragedy, gently told. I loved reading it.

Finalists: . 

• "Beside Myself," Brian Longacre
• "Everything is Fine," Hannah McLeod
• "Fred's Place," Johnny Holloway

• "July 3, 2009,"

   Merritt Newman-Shaw 

Judged by author of the nonfiction books (2024), (2020), and (2021), as well as the newsletter , where she explores the intersection of politics and our bodies in red state America.