2016 Wabash Prize in Fiction, as selected by Adam Johnson Winner: Caleb Tankersley, “Dean” Johnson: Humor and physical desire always triangulate back to sadness in this young husband’s narrative of his attempts to adjust to his wife’s degenerative illness. No digression, however, will assuage the inevitable, and the final image of a man trying to bypass his wife’s wasted body to communicate brain-to-brain is haunting and affecting. Runner up: Stefani Nellen, “How the Mind Can Exist in a Physical Universe” Johnson: A quiet story of subtle observation, this tale of a young scientist who falls into the orbit of a famous mathematics duo is…
From Contest
Winner of 2016 Wabash Prize in Nonfiction Announced
We would like to congratulate Kristin Nichols on winning first place in our 2016 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction with her essay, “Young Men Fall.” We would also like to recognize the excellence of Bob Brunk’s essay, “The Smell of Sunlight on Stones,” our runner-up in the contest. Congratulations Kristin and Bob! Michelle Tea, the final judge in our contest, had the following to say about these two essays: 1st Place: “Young Men Fall” I was taken with this story from the start, intrigued by the author’s strategy for sharing it (as it must be shared) with others.. Such a critical story, the passing…
Non-Fiction Contest Now Open
Submit your creative non-fiction from March 1st to April 15 for a chance to win $1000. Our judge? None other than the fabulous memoirist and novelist, Michelle Tea. It costs $20. Good luck!
Announcing the 2015 Winners of the Wabash Prizes for Fiction and Poetry!
1st Place Poetry: “Elegy with the Wing of a Bird” by Jody Rambo Mary Szybist had this to say about the winning poem: “I’m moved by the way ‘Elegy with the Wing of a Bird’ inhabits the bewilderment of grief. We sense with the speaker all the ways her mother is and isn’t present after death, and share the speaker’s anticipation, past all reason, of her mother’s return. The poem directs its sorrow outward not toward an abstraction or a divinity, but more unexpectedly, to a community of sisters. There is urgency in this poem to maintain this intimate ‘we,’ which,…
Presenting the Winners of the 2014 Wabash Prize for Poetry
Thank you to everyone who entered the 2014 Wabash Prize for Poetry. From a list of 10 finalists, poetry judge Bob Hicok has chosen the following poems: Winner: Matt Morton, “Windfall” Runner Up: Mark Jay Brewin, Jr.: “Red Hand” Here’s what Bob Hicok has to say about Matt Morton’s winning poem, “Windfall.” I find myself wanting to live in this poem every time I read it. To be held by these places and entranced by the things that seem like a gift – a windfall – to this mind, this poet. I like the mix of missing and having, how…
Presenting the Winners of the 2014 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction
We are thrilled to announce that Leslie Jamison, judge of the 2014 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction, has chosen “Ghost Language” by Jessica Wilbanks as the winning essay. Here’s what Jamison has to say about Jessica Wilbanks’ essay: “Ghost Language” is a searching, visceral examination of faith and its negative margins–its nerve endings are sharply attuned to the proximate world–the song of its particulars–and the yearning for something less proximate, something divine. It’s a piercing examination of memory and longing–the vexed terms by which one can be haunted by one’s own lost faith. “Ghost Language” will be published in the spring…
The Flashcard Contest!
January 1, 2015 – February 1, 2015 Send us your flashiest pieces, no more than 500 words each. First prize is $100, publication online, and publication on a Flashcard that will be distributed with Sycamore Review at AWP. Click here for full submission guidelines.
2014 Wabash Prize for Poetry Now Open – Judged by Bob Hicok
Contest season is upon us! Our second big fall contest, the Wabash Prize for Poetry, will be judged this year by none other than Bob Hicok. Interested poets may enter three poems for the submission fee of $15 ($5 for each additional poem) to be considered for the 2014 Wabash Prize, which awards a $1000…
2014 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction Now Open – Judged by Leslie Jamison
We are pleased to announce that the second annual Wabash Prize for Nonfiction is now open! Bestselling author Leslie Jamison will serve as the final judge. First prize in the contest is $1,000 and publication in the next issue of Sycamore Review. Leslie Jamison is the author of The Empathy Exams, a New York Times bestselling essay collection, and a novel, The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, Oxford American, A Public Space, Boston Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, and the New York Times, where she is a regular columnist for the Sunday Book Review. She was raised in…
2014 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction Now Open – Judged by Leslie Jamison
We are pleased to announce that the second annual Wabash Prize for Nonfiction is now open! Bestselling author Leslie Jamison will serve as the final judge. First prize in the contest is $1,000 and publication in the next issue of Sycamore Review. Leslie Jamison is the author of The Empathy Exams, a New York Times bestselling essay collection, and a novel, The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, Oxford American, A Public Space, Boston Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, and the New York Times, where she is a regular columnist…
