Annual Prairie Schooner writing prizes announced

Prairie Schooner, the quarterly literary magazine published at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has announced the winners of 18 writing prizes for work published in 2010. The total prize money awarded was $8,500, with the highest individual prize of $1,500.

The Lawrence Foundation Award ($1,000) was won by Steve Stern of Ballston Spa, N.Y., for the story "The Ballad of Mushie Momzer" from the spring issue. Stern is the author of several novels and short story collections, including "Lazar Malkin Enters Heaven," which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish American Fiction, and "The Wedding Jester," which won the National Jewish Book Award. His latest books are the novel "The Angel of Forgetfulness" and "The North of God," a novella.

The Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award ($1,500) was won by Josip Novakovich of Westmount, Quebec, for his essay, "Cat Named Sobaka" published in the spring issue. He teaches in the MFA program at Penn State University. He has published eight books and received a Whiting Award, American Book Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship to Russia, which financed adopting, nursing, and emigrating the unfortunate cat referenced in the title. This prize is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

Claudia Emerson of Fredericksburg, Va., won the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing ($1,000) for her four poems in the fall issue. Emerson's poems have appeared in Poetry, the Southern Review, Shenandoah, and New England Review. She is the author of several books including "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," "Pinion, An Elegy," and "Late Wife," which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. She is currently the Poet Laureate of Virginia. 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.

Nance Van Winckel of Liberty Lake, Wash., is awarded the Edward Stanley Award ($1,000) for her nine poems in the summer issue. Her fifth collection of poems, "No Starling," is recently out from the University of Washington Press. In addition to two National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowships, she has received awards from the Poetry Society of America, Poetry, and Prairie Schooner. She is the author of three collections of short fiction. She teaches in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and was the 2009 Stadler Poet in Residence at Bucknell University. 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 ($500) for the best work by a beginning writer was won by Kara Candito, of Madison, Wis., for her two poems published in the spring issue. Candito is the author of "Taste of Cherry," (University of Nebraska Press) winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Her work has appeared in various journals, including Blackbird, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, and the Kenyon Review. She has been a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Fellowship, and a recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, Prairie Schooner editor from 1963-1980.

The Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award ($500) goes to Robert Gibb of Homestead, Pa., for his four poems from the fall issue. Gibb is the author of seven books of poetry, including "The Origin of Evenings," (National Poetry Series winner) among others. He has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, seven grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Wildwood Poetry Prize, and the Devil's Millhopper Chapbook Prize. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

The Jane Geske Award ($250) is awarded to Greg Alan Brownderville for three poems from the summer issue. The native of Pumpkin Bend, Ark., teaches creative writing at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. His poems have appeared most recently in Oxford American, Measure, and First Things. The Jane Geske Award is given by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska's literary arts.

Eamon Grennan wins the Hugh J. Luke Award ($250) for his two poems in the summer issue. Grennan's most recent poetry collection is "Out of Sight: New & Selected Poems," from Graywolf Press. He taught at Vassar College and currently teaches in the graduate writing programs of Columbia University and New York University. He divides his time between Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Ireland.

There were 10 winners of the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards of $250 each. These awards are made possible through the generosity of Glenna Luschei.

- Robin Beth Schaer of New York, N.Y., for three poems in the winter issue

- Carole Simmons Oles of Chico, Calif., for 21 poems in the spring issue

- Richard Spilman of Wichita, Kan., for his story, "Where He Went Under," in the winter issue

- Mihaela Moscaliuc of Ocean, N.J., for her four poems in the fall issue

- David Wagoner of Lynnwood, Wash., for four poems in the summer issue

- Alice Hoffman of Cambridge, Mass., for her story, "The Bear's House," in the summer issue

- Mark Sullivan of New York, N.Y., for his five poems in the winter issue

- R.T. Smith of Fairfield, Va., for his story, "Red Jar," in the spring issue

- Roy Scheele of Lincoln for three poems in the summer issue

- Janet Abbot Dutton of Overland Park, Kan., for her essay, "Old Enough," in the winter issue

Prairie Schooner is available at chain and independent bookstores throughout the country. Subscriptions or individual copies may be ordered by calling (800) 715-2387. 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.

Writer: James Engelhardt