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. Read our winning manuscripts by clicking on each title below!
POETRY
First Place
Matthew Mendoza, “Grace Notes“
Second Place
Sean J. White, “discovery after twenty years in prison”
Third Place
Elizabeth Hawes, “The Glitter Squirrel in Me”
Honorable Mentions
Gary K. Farlow, “Fragment of a Dream: a prison passage“
Geneva J. Phillips, “Five Haiku Plus Two“
FICTION
First Place
William Myrl Smitherman, “Richard”
Second Place
Peter Dunne, “An Ungodly, Godlike Man”
Third Place
John Cephas Young, “My Penal Vacation”
Honorable Mentions
John Corley, “The Bizarre Conclusion of Walter Germany”
Anna Vanderford, “Double Time/ Borrowed Time/ Time’s Up”
Burl N. Corbett, “The Named and the Nameless”
ESSAY
First Place
Saint James Harris Wood, “The Swallow War”
Second Place
Sterling Cunio, “Going Forward with Gus”
Third Place
Michael Lambrix, “Execution Day—Involuntary Witness to Murder”
MEMOIR
First Place
Second Place
George T. Wilkerson, “Limp Gray Fur”
Third Place
Danner Darcleight, “Albert and Me”
Nonfiction Honorable Mentions
Branton Noojin, “Solitary Confinement”
William Anderson, “Conflagration”
Mark Altenhofen, “On a Railroad”
Annamarie Harris-Romero, “Regret’s Tragic Romance”
DRAMA
First Place
Jesus Alvarez, Viorel Capraru, Jason Christner, Sterling Cunio, Key Davis, Ben Pervish, Troy Ramsey, Phil Stockton, “The Bucket”
Second Place
Matthew Mendoza, “Freedom Feather”
Third Place
Gordon Bowers, “Somewhere, Kansas”
Honorable Mentions
Paul Swehla, “The Dystopian Hermit Monk”
Esau A. Strawberry, “The Golden Veneer”
FIELDING A. DAWSON
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Poetry
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Fiction
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Nonfiction
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Drama
The Prison Writing Contest Prizes are sponsored by the generous support of the Greenburger Center for Social & Criminal Justice.