Prairie Schooner announces $8,500 in writing prizes for 2013

Thanks to generous supporters of the literary arts, the Prairie Schooner, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln literary journal, was able to award 18 writing prizes totaling $8,500 for work published by both established and emerging writers in 2013.

The $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award was given to Lee Martin of Columbus, Ohio, for his story, "Wrong Number," in the Summer issue. Martin has published three memoirs, most recently "Such a Life." He is also the author of four novels, including "Break the Skin" and "The Bright Forever," the latter a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. He teaches in the MFA program at Ohio State University. This prize is made possible by poet, publisher and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

The $1,000 Lawrence Foundation Award was given to Lauren Acampora of Katonoah, N.Y., for the story "Felt Life" in the Spring issue. Acampora's fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Missouri Review, New England Review and Antioch Review, among other publications. This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City and its director, Leonard S. Bernstein.

The $1,000 Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing was given to Ellen O'Connell of Santa Barbara, Calif., for her essay, "Only X-Rays are Black & White," in the Fall issue. O'Connell is a California native whose work has been included in several literary journals and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. She is a contributing writer to the collection "The Movement" (Harper Perennial) and just completed her first novel. 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.

The $1,000 Edward Stanley Award was given to Kevin Simmonds of San Francisco for his poem, "Scott, Supervisor of the Dispossessed," in the Winter issue. Simmonds is a writer and musician who composed and co-wrote "Emmett Till, a River," a Japanese-noh-inspired play that premiered at Theater of Yugen. His writing has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Cincinnati Review, Octopus, Softblow and "Ecopoetry: A Contemporary American Anthology." This award is made possible through contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926.

The $500 Bernice Slote Award for the best work by a beginning writer was given to Sarah Valentine of Los Angeles for her essay, "The Divine Auditor," in the Summer issue. Valentine is a poet, writer and translator whose work has appeared in literary and peer-reviewed journals such as Callaloo, Zoland and Poetics: An Empirical Journal of Culture. She received a Lannan Writers Residency in Marfa, Texas, and is the author of a book of Russian poetry translations, "Into the Snow: Selected Poems of Gennady Aygi" (Wave Books). The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, Prairie Schooner editor from 1963 to 1980.

The annual $500 Prairie Schooner Strousse Award was given to Heather Sellers of Holland, Mich., for her three poems in the Fall issue. Sellers teaches poetry and nonfiction at the University of South Florida. She is the author of two collections of poetry, "Drinking Girls and Their Dresses" and "The Boys I Borrow," and a memoir, "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know" (Riverhead). The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

The $250 Jane Geske Award was given to Traci Brimhall of Kalamazoo, Mich., for her two poems in the Fall issue. Brimhall is the author of "Our Lady of the Ruins" (W.W. Norton), winner of the Barnard Women Poet's Prize; and "Rookery" (SIU Press), winner of the Crab Orchard Series First Book Award. Her poems have appeared in Kenyon Review, Slate, Ploughshares and Best American Poetry. The Jane Geske Award is given by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, Jane Geske, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska's literary arts.

The $250 Hugh J. Luke Award was given to Nikki Giovanni of Christianburg, Va., for her two poems in the Fall issue. Giovanni is a poet, activist, mother, and professor. She is a three-time NAACP Image Award winner, the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, and she holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry. The author of 28 books, she is the University Distinguished Professor/English at Virginia Tech and an Oprah Living Legend. The Hugh J. Luke Award was established in memory of Prairie Schooner's editor from 1980 to 1987.

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.

* Moniza Alvi of Norfolk, England, for two poems in the Winter issue;

* Vievee Francis of Hamtramck, Mich., for two poems in the Summer issue;

* Julianne Lynch of Denver for the story "Broomhead" in the Summer issue;

* Bryan Castille of St. Louis for the story "Ulan Bator" in the Summer issue;

* Joy Moore of Jackson, Tenn., for the poem "Tennessee Wedding" in the Fall issue;

* Ishion Hutchinson of Ithaca, N.Y., for four poems in the Summer issue;

* Mihaela Moscaliuc of Ocean, N.J., for the essay "Apples" in the Winter issue;

* Natalie Scenters-Zapico of El Paso, Texas, for two poems in the Fall issue;

* Karen An-hwei Lee of Santa Ana, Calif., for three poems in the Fall issue; and

* Craig Beaven of Houston for the poem "Braids" in the Summer issue.

Prairie Schooner is published with support from the University of Nebraska Press, the UNL English Department and its creative writing program, and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation. Subscriptions may be ordered by visiting http://prairieschooner.unl.edu. You can also follow Prairie Schooner on Facebook and Twitter.

Writer: Ian Rogers