Southeast Review Art Contest 

Judged by Eli Brown

 

Winner:

Clara Emery for “A Collection of Works on the Ocean and Tradition”

 

Eli writes:

I chose Clara Emery’s work because their photographs were beautiful, moody, and high-drama. There was a generosity of space and darkness that left so much room for dreaming and for questions. I felt that the images would pair well with the written submissions.
 

Runner-Up: 

Amanda Makepeace for “Earth Rituals”

 

Eli writes:

I chose Amanda Makepeace’s work for their careful and precise renderings. I appreciated the softness of line and dedication to detail, especially at a time when AI threatens tactility and the power of observation.

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World's Best Short-Short Story Contest

Judged by Kristen Arnett

 

Winner: Doug Ramspeck for “City of Weeds”

 

Arnett writes:

A true snowglobe of a story; everything neatly contained within the frame of the narrative, but still allowing the reader to imagine the wideness and the wildness of the “what if.” The lines are beautiful and contain a propulsive, undeniable rhythm. How often do we move through life wondering what histories ordinary objects might hold? The teeth here bite in more ways than one. Deeply moving, heartbreakingly lovely work.

 

Runner-Up: Devan Murphy for “Pushing Away What I Do Not Want”

 

Arnett writes:

I was impressed by the movement contained in this work. The twirling, spinning; the top-like momentum of the writing. Worlds both large and small live inside the frame of this story, and I felt myself expanding easily to contain them all. Nicely developed lines, genuinely thoughtful attention to white space on the page. I very much enjoyed this piece.

 

Longlist

• Michael Lavers, “Anya Awoke”

• Liam Whitworth, “Life Without Butter”

• jj peña, “give her back”

• Jonathan Cardew, “And So Were the Frogs”

• J. R. Welch, “Confession from Greenwood”

• Matthew Torralba Andrews, “Monsoon Season”

• Nadia Born, “The Killfie”

• Alice Martin, “Permit”

• J Buentello Benavides, “On Silent Hill 2 and Losing Him for the Last Time”

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Ned Stuckey-French Nonfiction Contest 

Judged By Porochista Khakpour

 

Contest Winner: “Forgiving the Man with the Machete” by Han Wei Luo

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Forgiving the Man With the Machete--An intense moving meditation on a harrowing but sadly timely topic: genocide. The focus here is Rwanda and our outsider narrator confronts her own sense of forgiveness and reconciliation while considering all the complicated layers of what those concepts mean for Rwandans yesterday and today. In only 3000 words, the writer captures the peace and tension, profound beauty and infinite contradictions, of the miracle that is Kigali today. Elegant deeply observant prose that approaches its topic with gentle curiosity and profound respect.

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Runner up: “Dry Mouth” by Avery Luft

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Dry Mouth--An episodic essay built around the concept of the lost art of letter-writing and one particularly difficult letter that may or may not need to be sent. The writer's sentences really won me over--singular prose that follows its own rules and rhythms and organically weaves a narrative apparatus all its own. I love that I've never read anything like this; I know its unique ambiance will stay with me for a long time.

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Gearhart Poetry Contest​

Judged by Leila Chatti

 

Winner: “Elegy Containing the Weight of Miracles” by Matt Schroeder

 

“Elegy Containing the Weight of Miracles” is a tender poem of grief—true tenderness, which incorporates not only affection but ache. This poem contains both the enormity of a father’s silence and the miniature beauties of Queen Anne’s Lace. I appreciate the quiet this poem makes (and holds) space for, and its clarity of vision and voice. And that epiphany slipped in, “memory/is stronger than the real thing”—I will be thinking about this for a long time.

 

Runner-Up: “My Persephone Poem” by Heather Gluck

 

First, I love this title—shouldn’t everyone have a Persephone poem? For as many as I’ve read, this Persephone speaks with her own original voice, one that delights me. This (under)world is both familiar and not; Cerberus shooed away under the breakfast table, the god of the dead scrolling his feed as souls ring the bell to get his attention. I love the glimpse I get here, and would happily stay in this poem for an eternity, but what a shame it would be to miss out on that fantastic final line.

 

Longlist

• Elizabeth Garcia, “Alternate Ending for Baby Loggerheads”

• Julia Kolchinsky, “Swipe Right for Intergenerational Trauma: A Dating Profile”

• Jarrett Moseley, “Pity Worm”

• Ernest Ohia, “self-portrait”

• Troy Osaki, “Fort Missoula Alien Detention Center”

• Hajer Requiq, “Surviving (on) Splinters”

• Cora Schipa, “White Elephant”

• Sonya Schneider, “Source to Mouth”

• Gretchen Williams, “How to Move the Dead”