2022 BLR Prize Winners
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2022 BLR Literary Prizes. More than 1,000 writers sent us their best work, and it was incredibly difficult to choose. The winning pieces will be published in Issue 42 of BLR, in the spring of 2022. We are indebted to our three judges and all of the writers who participated.
John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry
Judged by Crystal Valentine
Winner: “Drought Pastoral” by Michael M. Weinstein
Honorable Mention: “Six Weeks Into Chemotherapy” by Laura Paul Watson
Michael M. Weinstein is a trans/crip poet and essayist whose work appears in Boston Review, Conjunctions, Narrative, the Kenyon Review, the Iowa Review, the Adroit Journal, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the New Yorker. He holds an MFA from University of Michigan and a PhD from Harvard, and now lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Laura Paul Watson lives and writes in Pine, Colorado. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Florida. When not writing, she works as a general contractor. Her work has also appeared in Agni, Boulevard, and Poetry Ireland Review.
Goldenberg Prize for Fiction
Judged by Amy Hempel
Winner: “Step-Down” by Nitin K. Ahuja
Honorable Mention: “Pale Unhappy Dog” by Angie Sijun Lou
Nitin K. Ahuja is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Pennsylvania. His writing has previously appeared in Aeon, Slate, The Yale Review, The Washington Post, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He lives in Philadelphia.
Angie Sijun Lou is a Kundiman Fellow and a PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry Northwest, FENCE, and The Asian American Literary Review. She lives in Oakland.
Felice Buckvar Prize for Nonfiction
Judged by Michele Harper
Winner: “In My Head” by Avra Aron
Honorable Mention: “Casualty” by Emily Carter
Avra Aron has been published in The Briar Cliff Review. That issue of Briar Cliff Review was listed as a Notable Special Issue by Best American Essays, 2019. She is currently working on a collection of essays.
Emily Carter writes nonfiction and prose poetry. A lifelong North Carolinian, she lives in the Southern Outer Banks with her Smokin’ Hot Love Biscuit, John, and her dog, Fergie. She contributes to Haunted Waters Press, Flying South, and NC Literary Review, and belongs to Carteret Writers, the Writers’ Exchange, and NC Writers’ Network.
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