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, and $25 are awarded for first, second, third place, and honorable mention, respectively, in each of the following categories:

POETRY

First Place

Albert Altimari, “One-Legged Walter“

Second Place (tie)

Precious Bedell, “Run”

Henry Louis Michel, “Shedding Skin”

Third Place

Charles Dailey, “Sleeping Under the Whitehurst”

 

Honorable Mentions

Susan Deering, “Poem to God”

Christomer Presfield, “Be As Dark”

Gregory Holmes, “Visitation”

Anthony LaBarca Falcone, “City Dwellers”

 

FICTION

First Place

Paul Thunder Belcourt, “Reservation Superman”

Second Place (tie)

Scott Antworth, “Shortimer’s Sunrise”

Richard Early Young, “Strong Delusion”

Third Place

Terrance D. Robinson, “Sonchai’s Dance”

 

Honorable Mentions

Stephen Danforth, “A Prection of Dangerousness”

Cary Nichols, “Pandemonium”

 

MEMOIR

Award Winner

Paul J. Betts, Jr., “Flattop for Cherry Hill“

 

Honorable Mention

Dervin Bowman, “Ghost in the Machine”

 

ESSAY

First Place

David Taber, “Abraham’s Son”

Second Place

Joe Micelli, “After the Rainfall”

Third Place

Robert Paradise, “Kill the Criminal”

 

Honorable Mention

Daniel Harr, “The New Slavery Movement”