Instituted in 2001, the Creative Writing Award goes to the writer of the best piece of creative writing (whether poetry, short story, memoir, or other creative nonfiction), read by the writer at the fall conference and submitted in full length (for judging purposes/no longer than 10 double-spaced pages). The winning entry will be read as part of a panel, so the time to read the piece may not exceed 20 minutes.
To be eligible for the award, a piece cannot have been accepted for publication in any form by the submission deadline, and you do have to submit an abstract by the June deadline. Do not submit the full-length work unless your abstract has been accepted first.
Once accepted, please send the entire piece to both of our presidents at WLAConference2020@westernlit.org.
| Year | Recipient | Piece |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Joshua Dolezal | "Darkness and Light" |
| 2018 | Sydney Thompson | "Thataway" |
| 2017 | Cheyenne Marco | "Water Signs" |
| 2016 | Erin Flanagan | "The Rule of Threes" |
| 2015 | Michael Branch | "Dark Cliffy Spot: Naming a Place, Placing a Name" |
| 2014 | Lisa Knopp | "Groundwork" |
| 2013 | No prize was awarded. | |
| 2012 | David Thacker | "The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness and Other Poems" |
| 2011 | Doreen Pfost | "Trailing Consequences" |
| 2010 | Liz Stephens | "Ten Years I'll Never Get Back" |
| 2009 | Denice Turner | "Shadow Legacy" |
| 2008 | J. J. Clark | “As Is” |
| 2007 | Joshua Dolezal | “Selway by Headlamp” |
| 2006 | Russ Beck | “When I Believe in Faith” |
| 2004 | Terre Ryan | “In the Name of the Bomb: Confessions of a Cold War Catholic Kid” |
| 2003 | Laurie Clements Lambeth | “Fluid on the Brain” |
| 2002 | Michael L. Johnson | “Southwestern Afllatus” |
| 2001 | Lee Ann Roripaugh | “‘Mitten Springs’ and Other Poems Searching for Home: Japanese Americans in the American West” |
