Each year, the English department’s creative writing program conducts a university-wide competition that seeks to award the best undergraduate work in creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.

Below, find this year’s winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions. Congrats to all!

CREATIVE NONFICTION

First Place

• Addison Mitchell for “Digging to Italy”

Runner-Up

• Fiona Mayes for “Oversharing”

Honorable Mention

• Max Pohl for “Beelzebub and Black Holes“

 

FICTION

First Place

• Mikayla Crotchett for “Things Left to the Dirt”

Runner-Up

• Bear Atwood for “Servals, Collies, and Okapi”

Honorable Mentions

• Jessie Strong for “The Decent”
• Mandy Gonzales for “A Reflection of the Past”

 

Poetry

First Place

• Stella Van Buskirk for her collection Running Quite Quickly Through This House of Gladness which includes the poems: “winter,” “picture day,” “Introduction to Astronomy,” “that i must love stella,” and “Anonymous is a Woman”

Runners-Up

• Kelly Hobbick for “The Fallout of a Nuclear Family,” “Temporary Ichor,” and “And We Walk After”
• Mae Ferry for “Split Seconds: Four Ways of Seeing America,” “Daily science,” and “Sonata: mornings on a phone”

Honorable Mention

• Cana Peirce for “Ponderosa Prayer,” “The Housemate’s Cat,” “Okay, Let’s Trade,” and “The Hermit”