Annual Prairie Schooner writing prizes announced at UNL

Prairie Schooner, the quarterly literary magazine published at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has announced the recipients of its 2008 writing prizes. Awards totaling $8,500 were given to 18 writers. Highlights below:

The Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award ($1,500) was won by Marilyn Chin of La Mesa, Calif., for "Fables." Chin's most recent book is the poetry collection, "Rhapsody in Plain Yellow." Her work will be included in "Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen," which is forthcoming from W. W. Norton. This prize is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

The Lawrence Foundation Award ($1,000) was won by Paul Eggers of Forest Ranch, Calif., for the story, "Won't You Stay?" Eggers teaches creative writing at California State University, Chico. He's the author of a novel, "Saviors," and two short fiction collections, "How the Water Feels" and "The Departure Lounge." This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City.

Paula Peterson won the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing ($1,000) for her story, "Shelter." She lives in Evanston, Ill., and is the author of a book of short stories, "Women in the Grove." Her collection of essays, "Penitent, with Roses," won the Bakeless Prize for Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in the Best American Non-Required Reading 2004, the Iowa Review, Nimrod, Carolina Quarterly and the Greensboro Review. 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.

Bradford Tice received the Edward Stanley Award ($1,000) for three poems. He is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee. His poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in the Atlantic Monthly, North American Review, the American Scholar, Alaska Quarterly Review, Mississippi Review and Crab Orchard Review, as well as in Best American Short Stories 2008. Charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926, make this award possible.

Prairie Schooner is dedicated to publishing the best available writing by both established and emerging writers. For more information, visit http://prairieschooner.unl.edu.