2026 AWP Intro Journals Project Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 AWP Intro Journals Project! Winners were selected by Allegra Solomon (fiction), Christina Rivera (creative nonfiction), and Han VanderHart (poetry).

See previous winners

2026 Poetry Winners
“Dear Life”
Zi’Andria Corley
Austin Peay State University
Quarterly West
“La hora del mal”
Sandra Del Rio Madrigal
University of Minnesota
Tampa Review
“Buried Golden Shovel for Our Father Who Art in Heaven”
Isabella Folio
Bowling Green State University
Hayden’s Ferry Review
“wanúukshi|ocean coast”
Selene Hofstetter
Colorado State University
Mid-American Review
“Night Market in Dresden, Ontario”
Emilee Kinney
University of Southern Mississippi
Puerto del Sol
“Persephone”
AJ Leigh
Florida International University
Colorado Review
“Basin”
Miriam Milena
Western Washington University
Reed Magazine
“alternate universe in which the girls are not murdered”
Miranda Reinberg
University of Missouri–Kansas City
Iron Horse Literary Review
“Floridian Summer Number Twenty-Five”
Emilee Wigglesworth
North Carolina State University
Florida Review
 
2026 Poetry Honorable Mentions
“Self-Portrait as a Fangtooth Fish”
Zi’Andria Corley
Austin Peay State University
“Chronic Pain Ode to the Gymnosomata (Sea Angel)”
Alie Rain Davis
North Carolina State University
“Driving Across Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle”
Josh Luckenbach
Texas Tech University
“home, v.”
Miriam Milena
Western Washington University
“Monster Town, pop. 800”
Cassandra Rodenbaugh
University of Minnesota
“My Mother Passes Her First Drug Test”
Carson Sandell
San Diego State University
“Machete Sings”
Alexander Rivera
University of South Florida
“Root Zero”
Alexander Rivera
University of South Florida
“wayra for my husband”
Anna “Roe” Van Derwood
University of South Alabama
2026 Prose Winners
“August”
Assemay Almazbekkyzy, fiction
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Quarterly West
“Daughter Language: A Glossary”
Camila Cal Mello, creative nonfiction
University of Mississippi
Hayden’s Ferry Review
“Charlie’s Birthday”
Jade Ciampichini, fiction
Penn State University
Reed Magazine
“Churn”
Mish Gajewski-Zambataro, fiction
Cleveland State University
Iron Horse Literary Review
“F45.8 — r/IllnessFakers”
Kat Kothen-Hill, creative nonfiction
University of Montana
Florida Review
“This is Just to Say I Have Recommended the Last Book You Were Saving”
Sophie Nunberg, creative nonfiction
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Mid-American Review
“Rotten Eggs”
Ismael Rodriguez, fiction
University of Missouri–Kansas City
Puerto del Sol
“Resuscitated Fallow”
Sarah Southern, creative nonfiction
Point Loma Nazarene University
Colorado Review
“I Feel Just Like Mary Toft”
Erika Walsh, creative nonfiction
University of Alabama
Tampa Review
2026 Prose Honorable Mentions
“Inundation”
Paris Baldante, fiction
University of New Mexico
“Patchworks: A meditation on scale invariance, or the phenomenon of patterns repeating themselves on many scales.”
Lydia Blanchet, creative nonfiction
University of Alaska Fairbanks
“How and Why”
Emilio Cabral, fiction
North Carolina State University
“Walnut Liqueur”
Jordan Cagle, fiction
Central Washington University
“La Chucha!”
Aleikza Diaz, creative nonfiction
Rowan University
“Her Own Nature”
Anna Kavanaugh, creative nonfiction
Western Michigan University
“Intake”
Dion Mayer, creative nonfiction
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop
“Eniola”
Ucheoma Onwutuebe, creative nonfiction
University of Tennessee
“Aztlán”
Liz Ramirez, creative nonfiction
Colorado State University
“Kintsugi”
Lydia Seaton, fiction
Slippery Rock University
“Comfort of a Cut”
Sam X Wong, fiction
Western Washington University