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

Hal Cobb, “Applause“

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.