CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE WISCONSIN PEOPLE & IDEAS 2014 FICTION CONTEST!!!
- 1st place: “The Walk to Makino” by Karen Loeb – Eau Claire
- 2nd place: “Snowglobe Policy” by Jennifer Spilburg Sauer – Madison
- 3rd place: “Luck” by Marilyn Shapiro Leys – Prairie du Chien
Winners of the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2014 Fiction Contest receive publiction in the magazine and cash awards of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place). The first-place author also receives a one-week artist residency at Shake Rag School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point, and all three award-winning authors will read their stories at the 2014 Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison.
Our honorable mention stories and authors for 2014:
- “Swimming to Saba” by Shaun Melarvie – Sturgeon Bay
- “John and Loretta, Circa 1967” by Mary Rodriguez – McFarland
- “Night and Day” by Tom Stark – Madison
- “Guardians” by Sandy Walejko – Belleville
- “Creatures of the Air” by Tim Walsh – Madison
This year the fiction contest lead judge is author Susanna Daniel, author of Sea Creatures and other novels. The 2014 contest was coordinated by Jason A. Smith, editor, Wisconsin People & Ideas, who also acted along with Aaron Fai as preliminary judges. The contest received 69 submissions from across the state of Wisconsin. All judging was done blindly and ranking was done solely on the merit of individual stories in the opinion of our judges. Thank you to everyone who submitted stories to the 2014 fiction contest. Your participation is what makes this fiction contest one of the best showcases for Wisconsin writers. Look for the first- through third-place short stores to appear in forthcoming issues of Wisconsin People & Ideas, beginning with the spring issue in May 2014. Congratulations to all our winners and honorable mention writers and keep on writing!
Wisconsin People & Ideas thanks lead and preliminary judges for volunteering their time and efforts to the 2014 contest, and extends a special thanks to 2014 contest sponsors Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point for donating a weeklong artist residency for the first-place winner and the Wisconsin Book Festival for hosting our contest winners' reading.
ABOUT THE 2014 FICTION CONTEST
Submissions were accepted from September 15 to December 15, 2013. See complete contest rules below to win cash prizes of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place), publication in an award-winning magazine, and a special contest winners' reading at the 2014 Wisconsin Book Festival. First- through third-place winning stories will appear in print and online issues of Wisconsin People & Ideas, beginning with the spring 2014 issue of the magazine. The first-place winner also receives a one-week artist residency at Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point. Any Wisconsin resident or student over the age of 18 can enter the contest. All preliminary and final judging is done blindly and ranking is done solely on the merit of individual stories. See complete rules below. The lead contest judge for 2014 is author Susanna Daniel.
Every year our fiction contest elicits some amazing fiction from established and emerging Wisconsin writers alike, thereby placing a spotlight on one of our state's finest cultural resources. Wisconsin People & Ideas is the only quarterly magazine in the state that regularly highlights Wisconsin fiction and poetry along with articles by and about Wisconsinites who make our state great. It's through submissions to our annual contest and membership in the Wisconsin Academy that we can continue to publish this magazine. If you haven't already, please begin your subscription to Wisconsin People & Ideas by becoming a member of the Wisconsin Academy. As a member, you'll also receive a 20% discount on your submissions to the fiction contest ($15 instead of $20) in addition to four issues of the best magazine of contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture.
ABOUT SUSANNA DANIEL
Susanna Daniel is the author of two novels. Stiltsville was a winner of the 2011 PEN/Bingham award for debut fiction, and Sea Creatures was named an Amazon Editors’ Top Pick in August of 2013. Susanna is the co-founder of the Madison Writers’ Studio, a high-quality and casual private writing workshop, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Columbia University. Her work has been published in Newsweek, Slate, Epoch, and elsewhere. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and for more than a decade has lived in Madison, Wisconsin.
