Nicole Blizzard Short Story Contest

Every year, RAW encourages writers to write and sponsors a short story contest open to all women living in Alaska. The fiction pieces must be between 250 and 5,000 words and contain some lesbian content. This year’s grand prize was $500, second place $300, and third place $100. We would like to thank and congratulate everyone who entered. Entries came from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna and Ketchikan this year. We look forward to reading your stories in 2012 so stay tuned for guidelines and next year's deadline.

We are also changing the name of the contest to the Nicole Blizzard Short Story Contest. Nicole Blizzard was a local lesbian writer and editor who passed away in December. She created, published and edited the local LGBT literary journal Naked Ptarmigan (which also publishes the winner of the RAW short story contest), and last year Nicole published her first collection of short stories. We are pleased to rename the contest in honor of her.

-RAW

P.S. For people who are interested, the Naked Ptarmigan is accepting submissions: PO Box 244076, Anchorage, AK 99524. Email: ptarmigan-wing@hotmail.com.

RAW 2010 Short Story Contest Winners!

1st Place ($500)

Emily Sousa - "Mail Plane"

2nd Place ($300)

Mel Green - "Itch"

3rd Place ($100)

CN McLaughlin - "The Remaking of Audrey Lang"

Honorable Mentions –

"Gone, Fishing" by Audrey Fearnside

"219s" by Amy Whinston

RAW 2009 Short Story Contest Winners!

1st Place ($500, publication and an invite to read at Celebration)

Wendy Withrow - "Frayed Yellow Rope"

2nd Place ($300)

Brianna Dym - "She Remembers on a Cold Summer Day"

3rd Place (tie, $50 each)

Alix Layton - "Tomorrow"

Marilyn Conner - "Gestures"

Honorable Mentions –

"The Crinoline Revolution or Searching for Regina’s Vagina" by Terrilyn F. Watts

"Moving Mountains" by S.P. Horton

"The Thing That Killed Her" by Karis Koett

"Pathways of Desire" by Jean Anderson

"Holding Pattern" by EJ Essic

"Thunderstorm" by Annette Baker

RAW 2008 Short Story Contest Winners!

1st Place
Annette Baker - “A Place with Water”

2nd Place
Sarah Michael Zinger - “Girl Sex”

3rd Place
Heshee Lassfellow - “Short History of His Heart”

Honorable Mentions –
“The Dive Log” by Holly Warners
“The Stream” by Laurel Andrews
“Lane and the Bird-Hair Girl” by Jessica Bowman
“Dawn Breaks Everything” by Simon Langham
“Under the Ice” by Bonnie Dansby

RAW 2007 Short Story Contest Winner!

1st Place
Brooke Edward - “The Closet”