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
Catherine LaFleur, “Gardener’s Memory”
Second Place
Edward Ji, “Random Tuesday”
Third Place
Brian Batchelor, “Walking Yard”
Dawson Prize
Rufus Rodolph, “Hopeless”
Honorable Mentions
Jennifer K. Prince, “Untitled”
C. Fausto Cabrera, “A Ladybug’s Visit“
Terry W. Loessin, “Rare Winters When“
Fernando Rivas Martinez, “300 Min.”
Fiction
First Place
Arthur Fitzgerald, “Saturn Rising“
Second Place
Lawson Strickland, “September“
Third Place
Timothy James Burke, “Victoria’s Secret“
Dawson Prize
Malakki, “Bless“
Honorable Mentions
Scott Gutches, “The Breakers”
Steven H. Hummert, “The Book”
Arthur Longworth, “The Ocean”
Essay
First Place
Gene Walker, “East Texas Machinery”
Second Place
John J. Lennon, “College in the Can”
Third Place
Arthur Longworth, “The Yard”
Honorable Mentions
Ralph Bolden, “Living Grave”
Jeremy Mulligan, “Mr. Levi”
Ben Wilson, “Contemporary Street Literature”
Memoir
First Place
Tommy Winfrey, “The Stray”
Second Place
Elizabeth Hawes, “Warranted”
Third Place
Nate McKowen, “The Setting Sun“
Honorable Mentions
Michael A. Cooke, “Who’s Who in the Zoo”
Burl N. Corbett, “A Short History of the ‘Hill’”
Catherine LaFleur, “A True Tale of Love and Laundry”
Drama
First Place
Keith Sanders, “Closure”
Second Place
Matthew Mendoza, “Isla Mujeres“
Third Place
Stephen J. Matthews, “The Greatest American Patriot from Puducherry“
Dawson Prize
William Myrl Smitherman, “A Midsummer Night’s Dungeon”
Honorable Mentions
Sandra Brown, “I’ve Met My Match—A Drama in Five Acts”
Avis Lee (et al.), “Chin to the Sky—The Life Sentence of Avis Lee”
The Prison Writing Contest Prizes are sponsored by the generous support of the Greenburger Center for Social & Criminal Justice.