83rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition Winners

Writer’s Digest would like to congratulate the 101 winners of the 83rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition! For full coverage of the awards, please check out the November/December 2014 issue…

Writer’s Digest would like to congratulate the 101 winners of the 83rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition! For full coverage of the awards, please check out the November/December 2014 issue of Writer's Digest.

Grand Prize

Pamela Schott, “The Passion of Minerva Mullen” (Television/Movie Script) Read Pamela's winning entry here.An extended Q&A with our winner is also available.

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction

  1. Jayne Jenner, “Berty and CL”
  2. Holly L. Niner, “Chicken Little’s Grade A Idea”
  3. Peter Gibb, “Big Tom, Little Dog”
  4. Mary E. Furlong, “The Far Side of Ryan’s Knock”
  5. Rita Arens, “Bella Eats the Monsters”
  6. Gay Kamber Seltzer, “The Second Day of School”
  7. Mary Edith Cerny, “Picasso and Spike (A Cat Tail in Haiku)”
  8. Laurie Weeks, “Battle on the Home Front”
  9. James A. Schindler, “One Hell of a Sale”
  10. Lara O’Brien, “Chesca and Rogue”

Genre Short Story

  1. Elizabeth English, “Rainbow’s End”
  2. Stephanie Dockery, “Devil in Disguise”
  3. Thomas J. Humprhey, “A Hankerin’ for Justice”
  4. Scotty Williams, “Hitching Devils”
  5. Kara Pauley, “Min’s Promise”
  6. Janella Lee, “Swelling with Love”
  7. N.E. Silver, “The Demerits of Missing Toes”
  8. Courtney Sikora, “When Young Blood Boils”
  9. Max Thorgeirson, “Withdrawn”
  10. Connie Kay Harris, “Redemptive Silver”

Inspirational Writing

  1. Cassandra Rankin, “Life is Messy and Things Aren’t Always So Little on this Crazy Farm”
  2. Roy Martin, “The Day That Changed My Life”
  3. Mandeep Matharu, “Living with Inspiration”
  4. Elvie Bennett and Lois Grzzard, “Major Illness”
  5. Jennifer Reinharz, “A Pleasant Passover”
  6. Samuel Zane Farrell, “Living the Dream with Multiple Sclerosis”
  7. Christine Gray, “Adding Bleach to Water”
  8. Bebe Faas Rice, “Grandma and the Angel”
  9. Soraya Nelson, “A Family Kept”
  10. Barbara Daniel, “The Miracle of Tough Love”

Magazine Feature Article

  1. Julie Loar, “Nemesis or Tyche: Does Our Sun Have a Sister?”
  2. David Sachs, “A Guided Tour of the Spirit World”
  3. Leslie Hsu Oh, “We Paddle Together, Imitating Our Ancestors. Whoosh teen ayxa’a! Daa naaytee!”
  4. Cathy Cassinos-Carr, “When Grief Gets Complicated”
  5. Rebecca L. Rhoades, “The Colors of Bravery”
  6. Edie A. Clark, “Kachidoki Maru”
  7. Angela Waldron, “Coffee Comes to the West”
  8. Marina DelVecchio, “If You Want It, Come and Get It: How Pop Culture Defines Female Sexual Identity”
  9. Rebecca L. Rhoades, “Swimming with Giants”
  10. Elaine K. Howley, “Ageless Wonder”

Mainstream/Literary Short Story

  1. Kara Donadt, “10:03”
  2. Anthony T. Lagler, “Stalingrad”
  3. Andy Zembles, “Safe at Home”
  4. Daniella McGowan, “Forgiven”
  5. Guy Claudy, “Match Play”
  6. Z.J. Czupor, “Down in Disappointment Valley”
  7. Beverly A. Rogers, “Release”
  8. Jean Blasiar, “A Matter of Who”
  9. Robert Granader, “Brothers”
  10. David Meyers, “Derelict: The Curious Voyage of Redemption for a Doubting Thomas”

Nonrhyming Poetry

  1. Caroline Reichard, “Visiting Henry”
  2. Emily Byers, “To my grandfather, while eating”
  3. Kim Garcia, “Tilth of snow”
  4. Susan Kinney-Riordan, “Ocarina”
  5. Jayson C. Lynn, “No One Told Me We Could Float Away”
  6. Johne Richardson, “Generations”
  7. John E. Simonds, “Friendly Intervention”
  8. Linda Neal Reising, “Every Little Being”
  9. Nancy Alvarado, “The Kiss of the Homeless Man”
  10. Johne Richardson, “Drowning”

Personal Essay

  1. Nancy Freund Bills, “The Myth”
  2. Tracy Mancuso, “Perfect Husband”
  3. Flavia Brunetti Proietti, “On sugared ginger, the merits of coffee, and thunderous hoofs over the plains of the desert”
  4. Lyz Lenz, “How the World Was Supposed to End”
  5. Brandon Loran Maxwell, “Notes From an American Prisoner”
  6. Sarah Houssayni, “707 N. Emporia”
  7. Marguerite Lambrinos, “The Decision”
  8. Carol Siyahi Hicks, “Wild Things All”
  9. Colleen K. Penor, “Fearsome Men”
  10. Bobbye DePaul, “I Bought a Banana”

Rhyming Poetry

  1. George Amabile, “Design After Herakleitos”
  2. Melissa Cannon, “Mercury Poises On the Pinnacle of Nashville’s Bygone Union Station”
  3. Clay Fulghum, “The Keening of the Swallows”
  4. Scott Cyre, “True to Joy”
  5. Melissa Cannon, “The Returning Dead”
  6. Robert Daseler, “The Bridesmaids”
  7. Susan Huppert, “The Wool of the Lamb”
  8. Erin T. Gunti, “Simply Put”
  9. Dylan Guy, “It’s a Charade”
  10. Ronald Miller, “Moses”

Stage Play

  1. Jennifer E. Pergola, “Change or Death”
  2. C.M. Webb, “Driver’s Ed”
  3. Pamela Jamruszka Mencher, “Escape from Eden”
  4. Michael Reimann, “American Farce”
  5. Richard Fewell, “Cancer Dreams”
  6. Michael Balin, “Conversion”
  7. Augustus Cileone, “Handicapped”
  8. T.M. Reel, “How I Became an Atheist”
  9. Lisa Snider, “Motel 101”
  10. Gerard Marconi, “Absolution”

Television/Movie Script

  1. Nicholas Kats, “Sweet”
  2. Tess Clark, “Supernatural: The Webs We Weave”
  3. Mark Schroeder, “TrainHoppers”
  4. Sula Miller, “Born Into Hate”
  5. Sonya Davis-Roberts, “Motivation”
  6. Alex Knudsen, “Principles of the Past”
  7. Lynne M. Smelser, “Traunik”
  8. David Ennocenti, “Sniper Queen”
  9. Tess Clark, “Hel”
  10. Michelle Donnelly, “A Golden Moment”

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