85th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition Winners

Writer’s Digest would like to congratulate the 101 winners of the 85th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition! For full coverage of the awards, please check out the November/December 2016 issue of Writer's Digest.

Grand Prize

Sabrina Hicks, "Blink" (Children's/Young Adult Fiction). Read Hicks' winning entry here.An extended Q&A with our grand prize winner is also available.

Children's/Young Adult Fiction

Patricia Nesbitt, "Summer Rain"
Marie Tang, "Tai Gong's Celebration"
Katie Mills Giorgio, "Millicent Won't Pretend"
Stephanie Ward, "BEST. GIFT. EVER"
Bokerah Brumley, "Sixth Grade Superhero"
Matt Kuvakos, "Losing Harp"
June Sengpiehl, "Mother Goose and the Pirates"
Brooke Hartman, "Mommy Drives a Monster Truck"
Kat St. Claire, "Singing up the Sun"
Brooke Hartman, "A Kraken Called Clyde"

Genre Short Story

Vickey Malone Kennedy, "Guardian"
Andra Marquardt, "Ashella's Heart"
Thomas Roggenbuck, "Colonists in Space"
Joe Walker, "A Tale of Ice and Fire"
Rene Ahn, "The Son of Hephaestus"
Darlene Engelhoven, "Delicious Indecision"
G.A. Noggle, "Showdown at Red Road"
Erin Bauer, "Christmas Belles"
Conner J.B. Jones II, "Eclipse"
April Myers, "Aftershock"

Inspirational Writing

Lori Nordt, "A Pocketful of Acorns"
Andrea Hayes, "The Princess Who Forgot She Was a Princess"
Murray G. Morris, "The Face of Grace"
Kristi Ivanoff, "Faith Like a Child"
Pamela Haskin, "Just in Case I'm Cute"
Colleen Pedersen, "Not My Will"
Carlene Brown, "Why Should I Pray for Her?"
Ray Khan, "Silver Halos"
Delores Langseth, "Christmas Giving"
Jamisen Lyn Carney, "Wasps, Kids, Venison, Seizures and Freaking Chicken Breasts"

Magazine Feature Article

Cheryl Katz, "Manoomin Reclaims Its Roots"
Juli R. Branson, "Sgt. William Carney: Old Glory Never Touched the Ground"
Angela Waldron, "A Pilgrimage to the Holy City of Lhasa, Tibet"
Amy Horton, "Trichotillomania: A Lifelong Struggle"
Chandler Monk, "An Open Letter to the 18-Wheeler That Hit and Run"
Tamra Bolton, "300 Years of History: The Oldest Town in Texas"
Linda Roller, "The Giving Trees"
Richelle Putnam, "Tally-Ho"
Eileen Merwin, "Subway Superman"
John Moir, "The Chameleon"

Mainstream/Literary Short Story

Jennifer Dupree, "Our Mother"
Kendall Klym, "A Professional Male Ballet Dancer in 12 Steps"
Keith Charles, "In the Crawfordville Train Station"
Sarah Custen, "Marbles"
Mary Elizabeth Raines, "Easter Breakfast at Denny's"
Jennifer Owens, "The Definition of Unconditional Love"
Sean Crowell, "The Young Man"
Elsa Nierenberg, "Blood"
James Corpora, "The Day She Went Away"
Valerie Campbell, "ALT+F4"

Memoirs/Personal Essay

Duke Southard, "The Fallacy of Closure"
Rebecca Browder, "Watermelons and Rita Gram"
Sara Van Goethem, "In Your Eyes"
Chris Lewis, "The Choice"
Florence Tannen, "The Black Refrigerator"
Caren Gallimore, "Short Railings and Long Island Ice Teas"
Rebecca Beyer, "The Fig-Tree Race"
Ramen Benyamin, "New Arrivals"
Robert Reischl, "The Perils of Wanting"
Demerris Ranahan, "Scenes From the Trenches"

Non-Rhyming Poetry

Suellen Wedmore, "Round Pond, Virginia"
Tatum McNeil, "Inventing the Hourglass (Figure)"
Maureen Ash, "Farm Truck"
Jill Melchoir, "Comes Now Spring"
Tracy Ann Johnson, "Combing Her Hair"
Adelaide Weidknecht, "Beyond the Woods"
Francis Klein, "Ostrocons"
Thomas Dukes, "Carolina Boys"
Carol Despeaux Fawcett, "You teach me how to walk"
Jayne Jenner, "Mad in a Way"

Rhyming Poetry

Carolyn Files, "July Heat"
Melissa Cannon, "Pandora Bearing Gifts"
Melissa Cannon, "George Clooney's Sex Life Revealed"
Suellen Wedmore, "A Few Miles From the Keleti Railway Station"
Marla Alupoaicei, "The Graph of Infinity Resembles a Bird in Flight"
Alison Luterman, "A Machine Couldn't Write This Poem"
Victoria Mary Fach, "The Weaver"
Kimberly Berkley, "Earworm"
Michael Miller, "marriage"
Anne Kawamura, "Storm's Wake"

Stage Play

Alex Rubin, "The Apocalypse Plays"
Robert Gilbert, "Trans Tasmin"
Sarah Lawrence, "Bibo and Bertie"
Gina Musto, "Chiaroscuro"
Kyle Linkous, "Who Keeps the Chair?"
Tita Anntares, "Embers of Tent City"
Elisabeth Frankel, "The German Party"
Michael Reimann, "Nut House"
Patricia A. Powell, "The Penalty Phase"
Nelson Blish, "Pandora's Conceit"

Television/Movie Script

Nancy Froeschle, "The Restoration"
Stanley Munslow, "Timeframe"
Chase Kroll, "Leap"
R.J. Lewis, "Dummy"
Kathryn O'Sullivan and Paul Awad, "The Coldest End"
Elizabeth Preston, "My Superhero Brother"
Blair Donahue, "Jack Pot"
Darlene Inkster, "Winchester 13"
Tyler Voss, "The Shadow District"
Leland Frankel, "West of Sunset"

Cris FreeseAuthor

Cris Freese is a technical writer, professional book editor, literary intern, and the former managing editor of Writer's Digest Books. Cris also edited the annual guides Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market and Guide to Literary Agents, while also curating, editing, and writing all content for GLA's online companion. crisfreese.com