From Our Staff | January 07, 2013
Winners of the 2012 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize
We are delighted to ring in 2013 with the announcement of the winners of our 22nd annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize. Let’s get to it!
Fiction
Winner: Rachel Yoder of Iowa City, IA for “The blood was the mountain and the mountain was the bear”
Finalists:
Cara Adams of Baton Rouge, LA, for “The Sea Latch”
Jennifer S. Davis of Baton Rouge, LA, for “The Winnowing of Henry Jenkins”
Emma Torzs of Missoula, MT, for “Patchwork Elephant”
Poetry
Winner: Katie Bickham of Shreveport, LA
Finalists:
Andrew P. Grace of Gambier, OH
Dan O’Brien of Santa Monica, CA
Diane K. Seuss of Kalamazoo, MI
Essay
Winner: Terry Ann Thaxton of Winter Springs, FL, for “Delusions of Grandeur”
Finalists:
Jennifer Anderson of Lewiston, ID, for “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie”
Kathleen Spivack of Watertown, MA, for “Write What You Know”
Brad Wetherell of Ann Arbor, MI, for “A Clean Break”
We received approximately 2600 manuscripts this year, and the overall quality was extraordinarily good, making our decision a difficult one. We always want, of course, our selections to be a challenge–this means that we had several strong pieces in each category to discuss, argue for, pass around, praise and reread, which is exactly what happened during December as we whittled down our choices. Selecting winners of a contest should never be easy. We’re thankful to all the writers who entered our contest this year. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: TMR is only as good as the work you submit to us. Without that, we don’t have a magazine. So: thank you!
I also want to say “Thanks!” to our staff. Preparation for the Editors’ Prize began in May, months before we get the chance to even start reading the submissions. Also, there is the never-ending amount of administrative work that goes into promoting the contest. So this six month process has finally concluded successfully, and that’s all due to our contest editors, Claire McQuerry and Mike Petrik, who did all the heavy lifting to make our contest a huge success. Their staff of readers and assistants was once again tremendous. Big thanks to all the contest team editors, advisors, and interns who made it happen.
We’re making plans right now for our Editors’ Prize weekend, our annual spring reception and reading honoring the winners of the contest. Details will be forthcoming as soon as we lock down the date, but we’re aiming for dates in April. The 2013 Editors’ Prize issue, featuring our winners and selected finalist, will also be out in late spring.
Congratulations to Rachel, Katie, and Terry!
Follow Michael Nye on Twitter: @mpnye
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