Prairie Schooner literary quarterly awards annual prizes

Prairie Schooner, the quarterly literary magazine published at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, awarded 18 writing prizes for work published in its 2007 volume. The total prize money was $8,500, with the highest individual prize of $1,500.

The Lawrence Foundation Award of $1,000 was won by Alice Hoffman of Cambridge, Mass., for the story "Dirty White Dog" from the summer issue. She is the author of 18 works of fiction, most recently "Skylight Confessions," published by Little, Brown and Co. This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City.

The $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award was won by John Kinsella of York, Australia, for his poem "Requiem," published in the winter issue. He is the author of more than 30 books, most recently "The New Arcadia" (Norton), "Doppler Effect" (Salt) and "Peripheral Light: Selected and New Poems" (Norton). This prize is provided by poet, publisher and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

Lon Otto of St. Paul, Minn., won the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing of $1,000 for his story, "Her Good Name," from the winter issue. His work may be found in "Flash Fiction" and "Flash Fiction Forward" (Norton), and "Best Words, Best Order" (St. Martins). The Faulkner Award is supported by charitable contributions to honor Virginia Faulkner, former editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press and fiction editor at Prairie Schooner.

Constance Merritt of Lynchburg, Va., was awarded the Edward Stanley Award of $1,000 for her five poems from the winter issue. Merritt has published two collections of poems: "A Protocol for Touch" (University of North Texas Press) and "Blessing and Inclemencies" (Louisiana State University Press). Charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926, make this award possible.

The Bernice Slote Award of $500 for the best work by a beginning writer was won by Yehoshua November of Morristown, N.J., for his seven poems published in the spring issue. November teaches English at Rutgers University and Touro College. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, Prairie Schooner editor from 1963-1980.

The Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award of $500 went to Marianne Boruch of West Lafayette, Ind., for her poems from the winter issue. Her second book of essays on poetry, "In the Blue Pharmacy," is available from Trinity University Press. Her sixth poetry collection, "Grace, Fallen from," was published in January by Wesleyan Press. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

The Jane Geske Award of $250 was awarded to Nancy Zafris of Columbus, Ohio, for her story, "After Lunch," from the winter issue. She is the fiction editor of the Kenyon Review. She is also the author of "The Metal Shredders," a New York Times notable book of the year, and "The People I Know," winner of the Flannery O'Connor award for short fiction. The award is given by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, Jane Geske, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska's literary arts.

Jane Delury of Baltimore won the Hugh J. Luke Award of $250 for her story, "Eclipse," from the fall issue. Her stories have appeared in journals and magazines including Story Quarterly and the Sun. She is on the faculty of the University of Baltimore's MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts program.

There were 10 winners of the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards of $250 each:

* Ira Sadoff, of Hallowell, Maine, for his two poems in the spring 2007 issue;

* Linda Pastan, of Potomac, Md., for her two poems in the summer 2007 issue;

* James Cihlar, of St. Paul, Minn., for his two poems in the fall 2007 issue;

* David Hernandez, of Long Beach, Calif., for his three poems in the summer 2007 issue;

* Shawna Lemay, of Edmonton, Alberta, for her essay, "Still, Dead, Silent," in the fall 2007 issue;

* Trudy Lewis, of Columbia, Mo., for her story, "Homeland Hijab," in the spring 2007 issue;

* Lynn Aarti Chandhok, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for her six poems in the fall 2007 issue;

* Tracy Daugherty, of Corvallis, Ore., for her story, "The Saint," in the winter 2007 issue;

* Yerra Sugarman, of New York, N.Y., for her poem, "Journal: Rai'ut Coma Ward, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, July 2003," in the spring 2007 issue; and

* Mark Halperin, of Ellensburg, Wash., for his three poems in the Spring 2007 issue.

Prairie Schooner is available at chain and independent bookstores throughout the country. More information about the magazine is available at http://prairieschooner.unl.edu. Prairie Schooner is published with support from the UNL English Department and its creative writing program, the University of Nebraska Press, and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation.