Every year, hundreds of writers in prisons around the country submit works to PEN America’s Prison Writing Contest. This year’s submissions spoke to the resilience, individuality, and indomitable artistry of writers inside prison walls. While we celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s winners, it would be remiss not to acknowledge the devastating aftermath of the pandemic’s second year, which saw the eruption of carceral facilities as viral hotspots, empty promises of decarceration, and vast disparities in prison health care. In a time of acute disaster, this contest presents writers, poets, and playwrights with a conduit for their experiences, imagination, and indispensable literary voices.
With special thanks to our Prison Writing Committee, who spent hours intimately involved with the thousands of submitted works to curate these incredible pieces. These pieces will be publicly available on our website, and are also included in our 2022 Prison Writing Contest Anthology.
PEN AMERICA
2022 PRISON WRITING AWARD WINNERS
POETRY
First Place
Alex Tretbar – “Variations on an Undisclosed Location”
Second Place
C. Fausto Cabrera – “When Kneaded”
Third Place
Honorable Mentions
Jason Centrone – “Without You Silhouetted”
FICTION
First Place
Frank Kensaku Saragosa – “Life. In Pieces”
Second Place
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas – “Silent Treatment”
Third Place
Ryan M. Moser – “The Reinvention of Lenny Primo“
Honorable Mentions
Wintersun Lemieux – “A Fable for Leann”
Thomas Bartlett Whitaker – “Release”
Kevin Schaeffer – “Word of the Day: Bifurcation“
ESSAY
First Place
Frank Kensaku Saragosa – “Caught Crossing, Caught Between – A Tale of Two Cities”
Second Place
Joseph Grosso – “Now This Is Man”
Third Place
Lyle C. May – “Y’all Aint Here To Be Rehabilitated”
Honorable Mention
Reginald Stephens – “From the Sidelines“
Paul M. Wach – “I Work as a Lead Man“
Daniel Pirkel – “The Unintended Consequences of Retributive Justice“
MEMOIR
First Place
Burl N. Corbett – “Another Rainy Day”
Second Place
Leo Cardez – “Convict Chronicles: Cooking”
Third Place
Geneva Phillips – “The Hard Part”
Honorable Mentions
Elizabeth Hawes – “Pain Management”
Tsunami Caryl-Averlyn – “Co-Ed“
DRAMA
First Place
Alex Friedmann – “Twenty Years In Solitary – A Play in 20 Acts“
Second Place
Brandon J. Amos – “Can’t Win PEN”
Third Place
Evan Drennan – “Chasing the Apex”
Honorable Mentions
Burl N. Corbett – “Officer Sam Doesn’t Work Here, Anymore”
Walter Sam – “Horrible Brothers”
Gary K. Farlow – “A Homeless History Lesson“
FIELDING A. DAWSON
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Poetry
Chad H. Rand – “Litany in Pairs”
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Fiction
Julian Blanchard – “The Intern”
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Memoir
Steven Reynaldo Perez – “A Texas Prisoner Remembers”
Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Drama
Sean White – “T-Minus“
