“...It is nicely focused on a character in Frankenstein that deserves scholarly attention. It raises a host of significant points about the character. Research turned up significant sources as the thesis was investigated. The secondary sources and the primary source are utilized effectively. Yet the author’s voice is not undermined in the engaging analysis that is offered..."
The Fuller Fiction Award: “Lamia” by Maya Sites-Kagenski
“The story succeeds at blending myth and reality, shifting our understanding of what a monster is as Mia must contend with a curse while waiting the breakfast shift. The writer’s omniscient narrator is smart, funny, and relatable as she navigates a harrowing transformation, allowing the reader to feel at home in the fantastical even as it turns nightmarish.”
The Peters Award for Creative Nonfiction: “Ten Minutes, Ten Years” by Sarah Stambaugh
“I admire the writer’s trust in the reader and the decision-making and craftsmanship in choosing how much to reveal and when. The writer offers a compelling narrative in language that feels apt and never forced, and within which every detail contributes. And some of those details, slipped in quietly like a blade, are devastating.”
The Savage Award for Poetry: “Do Not Look at Me That Way” by Hannah Harvey
“The poet’s use of the recurring lines of the villanelle eerily echoes the predatory behavior of the "you" addressed in the poem. The rhymes are mostly unpredictable and unforced, and the physical details lend a concreteness to the poem that makes the persona's understated emotional trauma all the more visceral and moving. Fine work.”
