2018 Psychopomp Magazine Short Fiction Award
Below you’ll find the 2018 contest results with comments about the winning stories from out judge, Anne Valente.
1st Place – $500
“Kingfisher Bridge” by Niamh MacCabe
Narrated in gorgeously lush, precise prose of the natural world, “Kingfisher Bridge” centers on a boy gone missing, the chaos of which is organized throughout the story by the Gaelic Alphabet Through Trees—one of the boy’s favorite charts. This piece pulls the reader in immediately, and is expertly and beautifully drawn.
2nd Place – $150
“The Entryway” by Kira Bell
A love story and a ghost story at once—truly, the best combination—”The Entryway” is a compelling and propulsive short story. As a reader, I was drawn deeply into Michael’s family life and love life.
3rd Place – $100
“If Not This” by Michelle Donahue
Formally innovative and stylistically sharp, “If Not This” pulled me in from the first paragraph. Told through the prism of an unreliable narrator, this story destabilizes the reader while also building fantastic, dynamic momentum.
Runners Up
John Colburn: “The Story of Henry Ford”
Alyssa Proujansky: “A Place Beyond the Sun, Where It Is Cold Enough for All Things to Form” & “The Lines of the Space Between Us”
Sarah Scarr: “Mythic Splits”