Every year, hundreds of imprisoned writers from around the country submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works to PEN America’s Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population. Manuscripts come to the Prison Writing Program in a variety of forms: Some are handwritten, some are typed, some are written in the margins of legal documents. Prizes of $250, $150, $100, $50, and $25 are awarded for first, second, third place, the Dawson Prize, and honorable mentions, respectively, in each of the following categories:
POETRY
First Place
Second Place
Dominic Murphy, “I Should’ve Taken a Right Turn at Albuquerque”
Third Place
Greg Goodman, “Glimpse: Year 26, 2016“
Dawson Prize
Torlando McDonald, “Run Chile Run”
Honorable Mentions
Brian Batchelor, “Prison Proposal, Prison Wedding“
Kevin Costa, “Views“
Justin Monson, “POETICS: Mid-Summer 2016 (fragments from a freestyle)“
FICTION
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
K. Robert Schaeffer,“Of Arrestable Professions”
Dawson Prize
Matthew C. Cox, “All Wrong”
Honorable Mentions
Arnoldo Aguilar, “Somewhere Between Red and Green”
Natalie Lynch, “The Brain”
Edward B. Lyon Jr., “New Wave Slaves in Chinese Boots”
Derek R. Trumbo Sr., “Welcome to Your New Home, Prison”
ESSAY
First Place
Christopher J. Sivert, “House of the Interpreter”
Second Place
William Myrl Smitherman, “The Psychiatrist’s Visiting Interns”
Third Place
Lamarr Little, “Spinning the Yard: Social Implications of Inmates in the Hamster’s Cage”
Dawson Prize
Eric Miles Webb, “Wounded for My Own Transgressions”
Honorable Mentions
Burl N. Corbett, “On the Bowery, No One Knows Your Name”
Mark A. Hankerson Jr., “Transforming the Message”
Dylan Jeffrey, “Prison Journal”
MEMOIR
First Place
Arthur Longworth, “How to Kill Someone”
Second Place
Elizabeth Hawes, “Double Secret Probation: The Two-Week Paper Blog”
Third Place
Robert Ives, “600 Days of Silence”
Honorable Mentions
Victor Chunga, “In My Time”
John David Cochran, “Our Black Luck”
Ashleigh Dye, “Death: A Memoir”
DRAMA
First Place
William Myrl Smitherman, “Foreign Lands: A Slice of Seg”
Second Place
Steven Bond, “Vader’s Redemption”
Third Place
Dylan Jeffrey, “The Moronic Inferno: Snoring Towards Bethlehem”
Dawson Prize
Everett D. Schell, “Gun Show: A Monologue”
Honorable Mentions
Matthew Mendoza, “Rainbow Girls Detective Agency”
Maurice L. Ward, “For My Sistahs”
Sean J. White, “The Interview”
The Prison Writing Contest Prizes are sponsored by the generous support of the Greenburger Center for Social & Criminal Justice.