• Testimonials

    Publications, important professional connections, and new research interests and teaching ideas have grown from my participation in WLA.
    Jenny Emery-Davidson, 2008
    Taylor Award recipient 2000

Creative Writing Award

GUIDELINES FOR THE 2021 AWARD ARE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER YEARS. PLEASE SEE BELOW.

Instituted in 2001, the Creative Writing Award celebrates the creative writers among our members.

Because we are not hosting a conference in 2021, creative writing submissions (poetry, short story, memoir, or other creative nonfiction) are open to ALL WLA MEMBERS. 

The award comes with a small stipend.

To be eligible for the award, a piece cannot have been accepted for publication in any form by the submission deadline. 

Limit: 2 submissions per person.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

— You must be a WLA member.

— You must include a statement that your submission has not been accepted for publication at this time.

— Please submit your entry in full length (no longer than 10 double-spaced pages) to info@westernlit.org with the subject heading “CREATIVE WRITING AWARD SUBMISSION” by June 15, 2021.

Judging Committee:

Steven Wingate, chair
Laura Pritchett
Kara Dorris

Recipients of the Creative Writing Award

Year RecipientPiece
2020Raul B. Moreno"Sleepier Than Me"
2019Joshua Dolezal"Darkness and Light"
2018Sydney Thompson"Thataway"
2017Cheyenne Marco"Water Signs"
2016Erin Flanagan"The Rule of Threes"
2015Michael Branch"Dark Cliffy Spot: Naming a Place, Placing a Name"
2014Lisa Knopp"Groundwork"
2013No prize was awarded.
2012David Thacker"The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness and Other Poems"
2011Doreen Pfost"Trailing Consequences"
2010Liz Stephens"Ten Years I'll Never Get Back"
2009Denice Turner"Shadow Legacy"
2008J. J. Clark“As Is”
2007 Joshua Dolezal“Selway by Headlamp”
2006Russ Beck“When I Believe in Faith”
2004Terre Ryan“In the Name of the Bomb: Confessions of a Cold War Catholic Kid”
2003Laurie Clements Lambeth“Fluid on the Brain”
2002Michael L. Johnson“Southwestern Afllatus”
2001Lee Ann Roripaugh“‘Mitten Springs’ and Other Poems Searching for Home: Japanese Americans in the American West”
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