2020 Intro Journals Project Winners

2020 General Editor

Dave Essinger, University of Findlay

Intro Journals Winners: Poetry

Selected by Terry Ann Thaxton

  • “Golden Shovel in a New York Ballroom”
    Alexa Quezada
    Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis
    Iron Horse Literary Review

  • “Pablo’s Contrapuntal”
    Lindsay Lake
    University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Creative Writing MFA Program
    Tampa Review

  • “i am unfit to raise daughters”
    Jessica Ram
    University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Creative Writing MFA Program
    Mid-American Review

  • “Prequel to Truth”
    Jean Buehler
    St. Olaf College
    Hayden’s Ferry Review

  • “Analogies to various facets of evolution (people of influence)”
    Sydney Minnehan
    St. Lawrence University
    Puerto del Sol

  • “No Rhododendron”
    Samyak Shertok
    University of Utah Creative Writing Program
    Colorado Review

  • “there’s a parcel in your pocket it carries your abduction”
    Kathryne David Gargano
    University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee Creative Writing
    Tahoma Review

Honorable Mention

  • “lay me on the table + put flowers in my mouth”
    Matt Mitchell
    Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature, Hiram College

  • “Fireworks and Litanies”
    Collin Berry
    Vermont College of Fine Arts

  • “yes, I’m black”
    Deziree Brown
    University of Illinois at Chicago

  • “the derelict spacecraft tries, again, to define beauty”
    Hannah Cobb
    Eastern Washington University’s MFA

  • “Thoughts While the Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Outside My School”
    Caroline Carpenter
    Central Michigan University

  • “grade school”
    Matthew Fowler
    San Diego State University

  • “Ode to Wisconsin”
    Jessica Tanck
    University of Illinois

  • “Veteran’s Day, Arbeit Macht Frei-A Duet”
    Heather Tillery
    Eastern Washington University MFA

Intro Journals Winners: Fiction

Selected by Dave Housley

  • “Someone Tell a Story, Something to Pass the Time”
    Lacey Rowland
    University of Missouri
    Tahoma Review

  • “Elizabeth Kaplan’s Best Day Ever”
    Christopher Vanjonack
    University of Illinois
    Quarterly West

  • “The Alien Dialogues”
    Mark DiFruscio
    Oklahoma State University
    Puerto del Sol

  • “Trowel, Brush, Bones”
    Audrey Hollis
    Purdue University
    Iron Horse Literary Review

Honorable Mention

  • “It’s Almost Like People Don’t Say What They Mean”
    Siarra Riehl
    Vermont College of Fine Arts’s MFA in Writing Program

  • “Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Has 8 Symptoms”
    Ren Jones
    College of Charleston

  • “The Fucked Upness”
    Lara Avery
    University of Mississippi MFA

  • “Do You Think That Makes You Special?”
    Adam Rensch
    University of Illinois at Chicago

Intro Journals Winners: Creative Nonfiction

Selected by Tom Bligh

  • “Pardo/Ghost Hand”
    Matthew Morris
    University of Arizona
    Mid-American Review

  • “Love In the Time of Climate Change”
    Caroline Woodwell
    Eastern Washington University
    Tampa Review

  • “On Gurning”
    Rebecca Brill
    University of Minnesota Creative Writing Program
    Colorado Review

  • “Assemblies”
    Mary Henn
    University of Missouri Kansas City MFA Program
    Hayden’s Ferry Review

Honorable Mention

  • “Sounds of War”
    Brandon Parker
    Point Loma Nazarene University

  • “What It Means to Wade”
    Dakota Reed
    College of Charleston

  • “Lineal Gaps”
    Esther Hayes
    Colorado State University

  • “The Bitch’s Dictionary More or Less Alphabetically Arranged”
    Breanne Hager
    University of Memphis