prize winners
WRITTEN. REFINED. RELEASED.
1
Poem Prizes
1
Story Prizes
1
Essay Prizes
1
• Total Awards •
Zoë Crowest of Beeliar, WA, Australia
Zoë Crowest lives in Australia but is originally from the UK. She turned her hand to creative writing towards the end of 2019, and has been short listed and long listed in a few flash fiction competitions. Aside from writing, she enjoys competing in various sports with her dogs, Monty and Otis.
* This is the author’s first literary award. *
* This is the author's first work to appear in print. *
#57
Korey Wallace of Sioux City, Iowa
Korey Wallace’s poem “Something Akin To Knowing” has been nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. His time is divided between working, writing, and watching too much Netflix while eating something containing bacon.
* This is the author’s first literary award. *
#56
Jess Chua of Port Charlotte, Florida
Jess Chua is a content writer and editor based in Florida. She’s an INxJ on the MBTI test with an 8th house Venus in Scorpio. She loves reading, writing, cats, healthy meals, and exploring the dark depths of the human psyche.
* This is the author’s first literary award for an essay. *
#55
Anna Svoboda of London, England
Anna Svoboda is an American writer living in London. She's a full-time copywriter, part-time MFA student, and recent Ancestry.com addict who can be found at obscure indie concerts when she has a few hours to kill. Anna has been published in Shape magazine, 34th Parallel, EARMILK and Queen Mob's Teahouse.
* This is the author’s first literary award. *
#54
Donna Kathryn Kelly of Sioux Falls, SD
Donna Kathryn Kelly practiced law for many years in the Illinois criminal justice system: first, as an assistant public defender, and later, as a felony prosecutor in a far northwest suburb of Chicago. Kelly is married to a county sheriff, who inspires her with his integrity, courage, and compassion.
#52
Constance Campana of Attleboro, Massachusetts
"What I Saw" is Constance Campana's second winning creative nonfiction publication. The first was "Little House", published in Musepaper, Volume 1. She is finally starting to believe in herself, as a writer of prose, thanks to New Millennium Writings and Musepaper. She teaches writing at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and has been writing poetry and nonfiction since she was 8.
* This is the author’s second Musepaper Essay Prize! *
"What I Saw" | Musepaper Essay Prize #52 | Vol. 2
"Little House" | Musepaper Essay Prize #19 | Vol. 1
#52
Danny J. Gyure of Greenfield, Indiana
Daniel J. Gyure has been making up stories his entire life. He has been published twice in the Indianapolis literary magazine Irvington Reader. You can find him on Twitter (@literary_badass), where he talks about life, storytelling, and nonsense. He writes to provide a better life for his dogs.
* This is the author’s first literary award.
* This is the author’s first literary award.
#51
Sally Lipton Derringer of Nanuet, New York
Sally Lipton Derringer was a manuscript finalist for the Tampa Review Prize, New Issues Prize, Poets Out Loud Prize, and a semifinalist for the Brittingham Prize. Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, Los Angeles Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Solstice, Nimrod, December, Journal of the American Medical Association, and others.
* * Sally Lipton Derringer is a three-time Musepaper Poem Prize winner! * *
* * Sally Lipton Derringer is a three-time Musepaper Poem Prize winner! * *
#50
Adam Graham of St. Petersburg, Florida
Adam Graham is a writer and artist based in St. Petersburg, Florida. His works explores the role language plays as both a force of connectivity and a force of disintegration.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print. *
* This is the author's first work to appear in print. *
#49
Katherine Gleason of New York, New York
Katherine Gleason’s short stories have appeared in Derelict Lit, Gone Lawn, Juked, Jellyfish Review, and Southeast Review. She won first prize in the River Styx/Schlafly Beer Micro-Fiction Contest, garnered an honorable mention from Glimmer Train, and has published a number of nonfiction books.
#48
Jeanne Wilkinson of Brooklyn, New York
Jeanne Wilkinson went “back to the land” in her youth, and is now a writer and artist in Brooklyn, NY and Madison, WI. Her work has been on NPR, in Columbia Journal, The Penn Review, The Write Launch, Prometheus Dreaming, and she is honored to appear once again in NMW’s Musepaper.
* * * Jeanne Wilkinson is a three-time Musepaper Essay Prize winner! * * *
* * * Jeanne Wilkinson is a three-time Musepaper Essay Prize winner! * * *
#47
Sue Powers of Skokie, Illinois
Sue Powers’ stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Saturday Evening Post. She was a recipient of a fellowship and grant from the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and two of her stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her book of stories will be published by Atmosphere Press soon.
* This is the author’s first print publication. *
* This is the author’s first print publication. *
#46
Natalie Mucker of Bellevue, Kentucky
Natalie Mucker lives and writes in Bellevue, Kentucky. She received her Master of Fine Arts from Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. She is fond of animals, humans, yoga, art, kindness, all things food, and traveling—not necessarily in that order.
Find her on Instagram @natalie_e_m.
* * * Natalie Mucker is a two-time Musepaper Essay Prize winner! * * *
Find her on Instagram @natalie_e_m.
* * * Natalie Mucker is a two-time Musepaper Essay Prize winner! * * *
#45
Dean Gessie of Midland, Ontario, Canada
Dean Gessie has won multiple international prizes. Most recently, Dean won the Half and One Literary Contest in India, the Enizagam Poetry Contest in California and the Eden Mills Fiction Prize in Canada. Dean was also included in The 64 Best Poets of 2018 by Black Mountain Press.
#44
Dianalee Velie of Newbury, New Hampshire
Dianalee Velie, Poet Laureate of Newbury, New Hampshire, is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, and has a Master of Arts in Writing from Manhattanville College. Author or five books of poetry, Glass House, First Edition, The Many Roads to Paradise, The Alchemy of Desire, Ever After and a collection of short stories, Soul Proprietorship.
#43
Ash Marie Tandoc of Fontana, California
Ash Marie Tandoc is a non-binary, bisexual, Filipino-American (current community college student) whose works are influenced by the intersectionality of their identity and the world around them. Ash Marie Tandoc is a new writer, hoping to expand their writing capabilities and learn how to improve their writing skills in poetry.
#42
Alice Phung of Davis, California
Alice Phung received a Bachelor’s of Science in Biochemistry from UCLA and is currently a Chemistry graduate student at University of California, Davis. She was previously published in the Chicago Quarterly Review and has contributed to the blogs Spoonwiz, Inc. and Science and Food at UCLA.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
#41
Don J. Rath of San Francisco, California
Don J. Rath is an M.F.A. candidate in the Creative Writing program at Queens University of Charlotte. A recently retired finance executive, he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes short fiction and creative nonfiction.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
#40
Eryka Raines of Fairfax, California
Eryka Raines lives in Fairfax, California. Her work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction Online’s Tiny Truths. Eryka has been a professional actress, a cabaret singer, a small business owner, a People Ops manager for tech, and is now taking the time to think about it all.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
* This is the author's first literary award.
* This is the author's first work to appear in print.
#39
Ellaraine Lockie
Ellaraine Lockie's fourteenth chapbook, Sex and Other Slapsticks, has recently been released from Presa Press. In 2019, her poems have won the Poetry Super Highway Contest and The Women of the Fur Trade Poetry Contest from the Nebraska Writers Guild. Ellaraine teaches writing workshops and serves as Poetry Editor for the lifestyles magazine, LILIPOH.
#38
Randall Van Nostrand
Randall Van Nostrand’s debut novel, Vanquishing the Night Horse, is in final edits. Her stories have appeared in Chantwood Magazine, Bards & Sages, and Beginnings—an anthology of women’s stories (07/20.) A former New Yorker, she’s ridiculously happy to be dwelling on the side of a mountain writing like crazy.
* This is the author’s first writing contest award.
* This is the author’s first writing contest award.
#37
Jeanne Wilkinson of Brooklyn, New York
Jeanne Wilkinson is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn, NY and Madison, WI and she visits the shores of Lake Superior as often as she can. Her work has been on NPR, in Columbia Journal, Cleaning Up Glitter, Metafore, Prometheus Dreaming, and she is honored to appear once again in New Millennium Writings’ Musepaper.
#36
Marina Richie of Bend, Oregon
Marina Richie is a nature writer with recent articles appearing in Appalachian Trail Journeys, Birdwatching, and Vision magazines. She blogs for National Wildlife, Center for Humans and Nature, Audubon, and Outdoor Project. Marina lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband Wes and dog Pepper. Her personal blog is marinarichie.com.
* This is the author’s first literary award for poetry.
* This is the author’s first poem to appear in print.
* This is the author’s first literary award for poetry.
* This is the author’s first poem to appear in print.
#35
Sally Lipton Derringer of Nanuet, New York
Sally Lipton Derringer was a manuscript finalist for the Tampa Review Prize, New Issues Prize, Poets Out Loud Prize, and a semifinalist for the Brittingham Prize. Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, Los Angeles Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Solstice, Nimrod, December, Journal of the American Medical Association, and others.
#34
Zea Archer of New Jersey
Zea Archer is a writer and librarian living in Northern New Jersey. Her poems, plays, and reviews have been read and performed in queer spaces, including Skin to Skin, Your Name Here, and The Lesbrary. Her nonfiction work on (impending) queer motherhood appears in Hot Metal Bridge and Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly.
* Author’s first work to appear in print.
* Author’s first work to appear in print.
#33
Sandy Longley of Delmar, NY | Provincetown, MA
Sandy Longley is a recently retired English Professor. Finishing Line Press published her chapbook, Navigating the Waters, in 2016. Other publications include New Millennium Writings, Nimrod International Journal, Southword Journal, Spillway, Passager, Mudfish. She divides her time between Delmar, NY and Provincetown MA.
#32
Sandra Luerken of Aachen, Germany
Sandra Luerken lives in Aachen, Germany. She started writing stories in her childhood and took some creative writing classes at university. Just recently, she decided to try and see what would happen if she actually sent her stories out into the world. Now, she is very excited about her first publication.
* Author’s first literary award.
* Author’s first work to appear in print.
* Author’s first literary award.
* Author’s first work to appear in print.
#31
Kathryn Wilder of Dolores, Colorado
Kathryn Wilder’s essays have been listed as notable in Best American Essays, and have appeared in such places as High Desert Journal, River Teeth, Southern Indiana Review, Fourth Genre, and Sierra. She has an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and lives among mustangs in southwestern Colorado.
#30
Sylvia Bowman of Port Townsend, Washington
Sylvia Bowman has written poetry for twenty years, with a volume of poems published by Irenicon Press. Now she finds short stories a nifty form for exposing character and interaction, so works and studies how to write satisfying short-shorts before tackling the longer prose form.
* Author's first literary award for flash fiction.
* Author’s first flash fiction work to appear in print.
* Author's first literary award for flash fiction.
* Author’s first flash fiction work to appear in print.
#29
James McCrae of New York City, New York
James McCrae's writing has been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, Adweek, Thought Catalog, Yogi Times, Entrepreneur, Elephant Journal, and others. McCrae's debut creative nonfiction book, Sh#t Your Ego Says, was published by Hay House in 2017.
#28
Nina Gaby of Vermont
Nina Gaby has been represented in numerous journals and anthologies, and currently focuses on the shorter form, using composites to illustrate the face of addiction and mental illness from an intimate perspective. Gaby is also a psychiatric nurse practitioner and a widely exhibited visual artist.
* First Literary Award *
* First Literary Award *
#27
Terri Trespicio
Terri Trespicio is a NY-based writer, speaker, and brand advisor. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College, has been a finalist for the Iowa Award, and won first place for nonfiction in The Baltimore Review in 2016. She is currently at work on her first book.
#25
Kathryn Gahl
Kathryn Gahl writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. “40” is from her memoir in verse, DANCE WHEN YOU CAN’T. Her works appear in over forty journals. A finalist at Glimmer Train and Wisconsin People & Ideas, she believes in the transcendent power of dark chocolate, deep sleep, and red lipstick.
#24
Keith Mark Gaboury of San Francisco, California
Keith Mark Gaboury earned a M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College. His poems have appeared in such publications as Eclectica Magazine, Five 2 One Magazine, and New Millennium Writings. After spending his days as a preschool teacher, Keith spends his nights writing poetry in San Francisco, California.
#23
Hana Rowan-Seddon of London, England | United Kingdom
Hana Rowan-Seddon is a 18 year old living near Brighton, UK. Taking a break from college has allowed her to focus more on her writing.
* First Literary Award *
* First Work to be Published in Print *
* First Literary Award *
* First Work to be Published in Print *
#22
Natalie Mucker
Natalie Mucker is a graduate student at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. She is working towards her MFA in creative writing. She is fond of animals, humans, yoga, creativity, kindness, all things food, and traveling—not necessarily in that order.
* First Literary Award *
* First Work to be Published in Print *
* First Literary Award *
* First Work to be Published in Print *
#21
Susan Maeder of the North Coast of California and southwestern France
Susan Maeder lives on the North Coast of California and in southwestern France. She most recently performed her narrative poem, “The Goosefoot Tango,” as a one woman show in France. A career highlight was receiving the annual poetry prize in 2014 from New Millennium Writings.
#20
Constance Campana
Constance Campana is a poet and essayist who lives in Attleboro, MA and teaches writing at Wheaton College. Recent publications have been in Dogwood, 491 Magazine, Three Rivers Poetry Journal, Brown Journal of the Arts, Cleaver Magazine and SNReview.
#19
Cezanne Alexander
#18
Sally Lipton Derringer of Nanuet, New York
Sally Lipton Derringer was a manuscript finalist for the Tampa Review Prize and a finalist for the Jeff Marks Poetry Prize, Arts & Letters Prize and Kay Murphy Prize. Her poems have appeared in Poet Lore, Los Angeles Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and others.
#17
Jeanne Wilkinson of Brooklyn, New York
Jeanne Wilkinson is a Brooklyn artist and writer. Her writing has been on NPR’s Living on Earth and Leonard Lopate Show, Columbia Journal, Digging Through the Fat, and Raven’s Perch, and her experimental videos featured at BAM, the Greenpoint, New York Independent Film Festivals and 13th St. Repertory Theater.
#15
Kirk McDavitt of Bucharest, Romania
Kirk McDavitt is a writer on sabbatical from teaching writing, currently residing in Bucharest, Romania. In addition to writing short fiction and non-fiction, he is working on a novel (a fictionalized account of his experiences in a Vipassana meditation course). It will incorporate fifteen of his original songs.
#14
Brian Feehan of Wilton, Connecticut
Brian Feehan lives in Connecticut. He attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop summer program. He’s had several short stories published, in the Foundling Review and Plots with Guns and five published plays (Heuer Publishing), one of which was a finalist for the Heideman Award at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville.
#13
Joanna Koch of Berkley, Michigan
Joanna Koch’s short fiction has been published in journals such as Dark Fuse, Hello Horror, and the anthology Game Fiction, Volume One. This story’s companion piece appears in the anthology “Trump: Utopia/Dystopia.”
An MA Contemplative Psychotherapy graduate of Naropa University, Joanna works near Detroit as an advocate for women’s rights.
An MA Contemplative Psychotherapy graduate of Naropa University, Joanna works near Detroit as an advocate for women’s rights.
#12
Ginny Lowe Connors of West Hartford, Connecticut
Ginny Lowe Connors is the author of several poetry collections, including Toward the Hanging Tree: Poems of Salem Village. Connors has also edited poetry anthologies, including the recently published Forgotten Women: A Tribute in Poetry. The editor of Connecticut River Review, she also runs a small poetry press, Grayson Books.
#11
Annie Dawid of Monument, Colorado
Annie Dawid’s three books of fiction are: York Ferry, A Novel (1993 Cane Hill Press); Lily in the Desert: Stories (2001: Carnegie-Mellon University Press Series in Short Fiction) and And Darkness Was Under His Feet: Stories of a Family (1998 Litchfield Review Press). Poetry: Anatomie of The World (2017)
#10
Jude Brewer of Portland, Oregon
Jude Brewer’s writing has appeared in New Millennium Writings, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Scintilla Press, and Cultured Vultures. His nonfiction short, 2012, 2016, 2017 was a finalist in the 2017 Montana Book Festival. He also hosts the literary “radio theatre” podcast Storytellers Telling Stories. New episodes available Tuesdays.
#8
Adrienne Garrison of Bloomington, Indiana
Adrienne Garrison is a writer, mother, and educator living in Bloomington, Indiana with her daughter and husband. She is currently working on her first novel and completing her MFA in Creative Writing with Pacific University in Oregon.
#7
Molly Seale of Makanda, Illinois
Molly Seale has most recently published essays in Hippocampus Magazine and Hotel Amerika as well as ON YOUR OWN, an anthology of poems and essays about widowhood. She holds an MFA in Theatre from the University of Texas and was a Fulbright-Hays grant recipient in the Performing Arts to the former Soviet Union. Her essay, “Illness,” was included in Robert Atwan’s Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction of 2014. She lives in Makanda, Illinois.
#6
Laura Rose of Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Laura Rose, an advertising copywriter and manager, lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her husband and daughter. Her nonfiction has appeared in Narrative, Memoir Journal, and Bucks County Writer.
#5
#4
M.K. Sturdevant of Chicago, Illinois
M.K. Sturdevant’s work has appeared in Orion, Flyway, Slag Glass City, and The Trumpeter, and she was listed in the Top 25 Emerging Writers by Glimmer Train Press. She lives and works in the Chicago area.
#3
Jonathan Segol of Troy, New York
Jonathan Segol's first writing was as a songwriter in New York and as a journalist for Street News. He now teaches writing at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY.
#2
Laura Maynard of Enniskillen, Ontario
Laura Maynard is a Writer’s Craft teacher, living with her husband and son in the beautiful village of Enniskillen, Ontario.
#1