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
Yvette Louisell, “Prison Eulogies”
Second Place
Joe Ricky Knight, “An Escape Artist”
Third Place
Zachary Redfearne, “The Double Edge”
Dawson Prize
Donald Brevard, “Prison Walls”
Honorable Mentions
Jennifer Myers, “A Particular Sense of Peace”
John Byron Yarbrough, “The Season”
FICTION
First Place
Chris Everley, “Hook Island Traveller”
Second Place
Michael Hicks, “Gulfisland Ferry Road”
Third Place
William Van Poyck, “The Man from Far Away”
Dawson Prize
Rik Bogen, “Time Shifter”
Honorable Mentions
Joseph Burgeson, “Habits”
Samuel E. Harris, “The Last Dream of Plaquemines”
MEMOIR
First Place
Charles P. Norman, “Fighting the Ninja”
Second Place
Spoon Jackson, “Nowhere but Barstow and Prison”
Third Place
D. Babb, “Escape from A Maximum Security Jail”
Dawson Prize
Miriam McKenzie, “Another Heart Knew My Pain”
Honorable Mentions
Frederic Berthoff, “The Glass House”
Robert McKown, “Bobby’s Innocence”
Essay
First Place
Michael Rothwell, “Check Out Day”
Second Place
Hector Gallegos, “Species of a Lesser God”
Third Place
Eugene A. Dey, “Frontline Reflections of a Drug War Journalist”
Honorable Mentions
Dennis Forrest, “Prison and Poetry”
Charles Selby, “The Complicated Truth”
Drama
First Place
Jodi L. Serino, “Metamorphosis”
Second Place
Third Place
Paresh Patel, “A Felon and His Subconscious”
Dawson Prize
Honorable Mentions
Kenneth Milton, “Survival Lessons”
Santonio D. Murff, “The Cobra’s Cross”
Steve Curtis, “Georgia Clay”