Formerly known as the Emerging Writers and Board prizes.  
 
2011-2012 Emerging Writers Contest Winners (combined categories)
First Prize: Erin Ryan for “En Plein Air”
Second Prize: Gary Powell for “Home Free”
Third Prize: Robert Brabham for “Wider the Jaw”
Honorable Mention: Lauren Shadd for “Fourth of July” and “Vanishing Point”

2010-2011 Board Prize Winners
Nonfiction - Nobody's Daughter by Deanna Lindquist
Poetry - Betrayal Pays A Winter Visit to Maine by Barbara Campbell
Fiction - Food For The Fish by Penny Lindblom

Honorable Mentions
Finale by Lynn Dausman (poetry)
Cloth by Lynn Dausman (poetry)
Selling Grandpa's House by Laura Cripe (nonfiction)
Cult Of The Fresh Tomato by Jayne Hunter (fiction)
All That's Left by Rajni Gupta (fiction)
 
2009-2010 Winners of The Board Prize
Nonfiction Winner - Jean Spangler
Fiction Winner - Amy Louise Herring
Poetry Winner - John Hartness

2011-2012 Winners

 

2010-2011 Winners
Judge: Mary Akers, Author
1st Prize: Lisa Kunkleman for "Rest in Peace?"
2nd Prize: Annie Maier for "Restitution"
3rd Prize: Connie Fisher for "Millie's Tale"
Honorable Mentions:
Billy Haake for "Forgiveness is Freedom"
Annie Maier for "Advertising with God"
Ken Burrow for "The Lilies of the Field"

2009-2010 Winners
Judge: Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Carlisle
1st Prize: Aaron McAlexander for "Crossings"
2nd Prize: Gail Peck for "Child Waiting"
3rd Prize: Annie Maier for "A John"
Honorable Mentions:
Kit Sluder for "Being Present"
Marianne Cassels for "Of Forests, Flowers and a Phantom"
Erika Hoffman for "Curse the Turkey: Pass the Pepto"

2008-2009 Winners
Judge: Jan Schochet, Historian and Author
1st Place: Wendy Oglesby for "The Red Dog"
2nd Place: Joseph H. Spencer for "Passing On"
3rd Place: Elizabeth Swann for "Fishin’ Time"
Honorable Mentions:
Diane Hoover Bechtler for “Moving on Highway Number 8”
Terry Dancy for “The Bridesmaid’s Doll”
Aaron McAlexander for “The Stockman”

2007-2008 Winners

2006-2007 Winners
Judge: Van Garrison

2005-2006 Winners
1st Place: Danna Ray for "A Bowl of Beets"
2nd Place: Andrew E. Kalnik for "Names at Work"
3rd Place: Marisa Rosenfeld for "Titanic, A Love Story"
Honorable Mentions:
Marisa Rosenfeld for "Miguel"
Lynn Gorski for "Winged Victory"
Shelley Stout for "By Way of Captivity"

2004-2005 Winners
Given in Honor of Katharine W. Osborne
Sponsor: Main Street Rag Publishers
1st Place: Larry Rogers for "A War Story"
2nd Place: Aaron McAlexander for "Bri Wink"
3rd Place: Edward McKeown for "A Life in Art"
Honorable Mentions:
Sharon Kurtzman for "Greenlight"
Sharon Kurtzman for "Roses are Red, Martians are Green"
Marisa Rosenfeld for "Celia"

2003-2004 Winners
1st Place: John York
2nd Place: Gilda Morina Syverson
3rd Place: Marylin J. Coffey
Honorable Mentions:
Maureen Ryan Griffin
Caroline Castle Hicks
Rosie Molinary

2011-2012 Children’s Story Winner
Contest Judge: Garret Freymann-Weyr
1st Place: Tamra Wilson for "December Bride"

2010-2011 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Helen H. Kimbrough
1st Place: Elizabeth Swann for "A Garden's Grace"
2nd Place: Bridgett Langson for "Bandit and the Bone"
3rd Place: Kimberly Condon for "Molly and Me"
Honorable Mention: David Lyon for "Chloe McSimmons Doesn’t Like Me"

2009-2010 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Gillian Summers
1st Place: Lori Norman for "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise"
2nd Place: Sue Friday for "Girl Lessons"
3rd Place: Tammy Wilson for "Brother Dirk"
Honorable Mentions:
Rebecca Shoniker for "Grandma's Rose Garden"
Cathy Mahaffey for "The Keepers"
Trent Roberts for "Tessa To the Very End"

2008-2009 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Samantha Bell
1st Place: Marnie Brooks for "Keisha's Aliens"
2nd Place: Eileen Hayes for "Rainbow Dreams"
3rd Place: Paula Woolf for "Seeing Things Differently"
Honorable Mentions:
Nancy Lammers for "Henrietta, The Wild Thanksgiving Turkey"
Paula Woolf for "Zambo"

2007-2008 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Ruth Moose
1st Place: Carol Staton for "Cecelia's Journey to the Sea"
2nd Place: Al Manning for "King Wilfred of Woppingsham"
3rd Place: Paula Wolff for "Earl the Pearl"
Honorable Mention:
R. Trentham Roberts for "The Helium Museleum"

2006-2007 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Margaret Shealy

2005-2006 Children's Story Winners
1st Prize: Nancy McGill for "Annie's Christmas, 1939"
2nd Prize: Sharon Massey for "A New Year"
3rd Prize: Emily Kern for "The Fox and the Seven Ducklings"
Honorable Mentions:
Sigrid S. Sacra for "The Extraordinary Butterfly"
Judith W. Aplin for "Rochester Proves Himself"

2004-2005 Children's Story Winners
1st Prize: Tammy Wilson for "Aunt Bett's Jewels"
2nd Prize: Grace W. Looper for "The Magic Circle"
3rd Prize: Sharon Massey for "Juggling Junior"

2003-2004 Children's Story Winners
Contest Judge: Gloria Hamilton
1st Prize: Carolyn Callison Murray for "Toasted"
2nd Prize: Sharon Massey for "The Misfits"
3rd Prize: Grace Looper for "Of Doodlebugs and Dandelions"
Honorable Mentions:
Betsy Humphreys for "The Rise and Fall of Bad Judy"
Resa Goldberg for "The Golf Green Thing"
Lynn Gorski for "The Other End of the Tunnel"

2010-2011 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Kristin Berkey-Abbott
1st Place: Maureen Sherbondy for "What the Prince Doesn’t Know"
2nd Place: Maureen Sherbondy for "Unveiling"
3rd Place: Sean Carter for “Bull Lee Opens His Veins Toward the North”
Honorable Mentions:
Barbara Campbell for "Southern Snow"
Leslie Rupracht for "In Flight, Arizona to Utah"
Maureen Sherbondy for "Strand"

2009-2010 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Naomi Guttman
1st Place: Jenny Hubbard for "Under a Gingko"
2nd Place: Joan McLean for "This Could Be"
3rd Place: Suzanne Degni for “Perigee (March 1993): The Night of the Big Moon”
Honorable Mentions:
Tony Abbott for "Wild Old, Mad Old Man"
David Radavich for "True Story"
Barbara Campbell for "Crow, Not Crow"

2008-2009 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Alex Grant
1st Place: Richard Taylor for “The Essence of Art"
2nd Place: Maureen Sherbondy for "The Shoplifter"
3rd Place: Sue Dellinger for “The Lovers"
Honorable Mentions:
Elizabeth Swann for “Mama Can’t Scat”
Maureen Sherbondy for "How to Succeed in Sales” 
Sue Dellinger for "Dark Chocolate”

2007-2008 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Donna Earnhardt
1st Place: Katherine Barr  for "The Texas Snake Man Speaks"
2nd Place: Jessie Carty for "Elegy #2"
3rd Place: Elizabeth Swann for "Bread Crumbs"
Honorable Mentions:
Scott Douglas for "Shop Talk"
Andy Kalnik for "Gorilla Territory"
Bobbie Campbell for "And Then We Were One"

 

Judge: Susan Meyers

2005-2006 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Philip Memmer
1st Place: Gilda Morina Syverson for "Juggling"
2nd Place: Allison Elrod for "The Growing Season"
3rd Place: Blynn Field for "When Love Barely Lights the Way"
Honorable Mentions:
Genie Colter for "Heaven" 
Lynn Veach Sadler for "Resetting Dominoe" 
Richard Allen Taylor for "3"

2004-2005 Award Winners
1st Place: Maureen Sherbondy for "Sleeping Beauty in Old Age"
2nd Place: Lisa Zerkle for "How a Poet Wins Scrabble"
3rd Place: Jeannette Hinton Dorsey for "Before I Was"
Honorable Mentions:
Wendy H. Gill for "The Right Suit"
Lisa Zerkle for "Duck and Cover"
Lisa Zerkle for "A Daughter Declines Her Mother's Inheritance"

2003-2004 Award Winners
Contest Judge: Mary Ellen Marusa and Chuck Gregg
1st Place: Gail Peck for "The Moon No Longer Ful"
2nd Place: Cary Ellen Howie for "Mary Oliver's World"
3rd Place: Lynn Veach Sadler for "My Jewish Mother"
Honorable Mentions:
Sara Clayton for "Klaeidoscope: Long Road to Somewhere"
Betsy Humphreys for "Fishing For One Pearl"
Richard Band for "Sandbox"

2011-2012 Competition Winners
Contest Judge: Rebecca McClanahan
Grand prize winner:
"My Grandfather Dreams of Bats," by Michael Lawson, UNC Chapel Hill
Louise Rockwell Honorable Mention:
"Winter Fruit," by Hannah Riddle, UNC Chapel Hill
Runners Up (with poems in alphabetical order):
"For E.," by Sarah Huener, UNC Chapel Hill
"Logic of a Masochist," by Lizzie Davis, Catawba College
"Splitting Wood," by Caleb Agnew, UNC Chapel Hill
"The Work We Do," by Hannah Wright, Davidson College
"Unease," by Lina Patton, Elon College

2010 Competition Winners
Contest Judge: Barbara Presnell
Grand prize winner:
"The Autobiography of Hurt" by Meghan Palko, UNC-W
Runners up (with poems in alphabetical order):
"Carolina Poem" by Becky Whitten, Davidson College
"Human Cartography" by Emily McCrary, UNC-W
"Kitchen Renovations" by Rachel Kennedy, Catawba College
"Penelope" by Devon Weeks, Davidson College
"Pride of my Father" by Janeen Bradley, Queens University
"Scratchy Kisses" by Amanda Ottaway, Davidson College

2009 Competition Winners
Grand prize winner:
“At the Diner” by Caitlin McCann, UNC-Greensboro
Runners up (with poems in alphabetical order):
“An Elegy for the Liberal Arts Education of Jack Fennebresque, Esquire” by Alexander Binns Hoyt, Davidson College
“Spivey’s Corner” by Devon Weeks, Davidson College
“Take It Away” by Valerie Bright, UNC-Charlotte
“The Shaving of the Collaborators” by V. Janeen Bradley, Queens University of Charlotte
"Things Swallowed” by Natalie Kennedy, Davidson College
“Under the Sun” by Kiah McCoy, UNC-Wilmington

2008 Competition Winners
Grand prize winner:
"Thief" by Graham Younger, Davidson College 
Runners up (with poems in alphabetical order):
"Attn: Mr. Walt Disney" by Lauren Brown, Queens University of Charlotte 
"July" by Claire McElvaney, Meredith College
"Time Travel, or Today is My Past-Life's Yesterday" by Kali McCullough, Catawba College 
"When Meeting Your Ghost" by Lauren Alston Smith, Catawba College 

2006 Grand Prize Winner:
"The First Run After" by Jacob Bathanti, Wake Forest University 

2005 Grand Prize Winner:
"Grandfather's Hand" by Nneka Campbell, Catawba College 

2004 Grand Prize Winner:
"109 Battle" by Heather Collins, Queens University 

2010-2011 Winners
Final Judge: Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
1st Place: Sean Carter for “Youngblood”
2nd Place: Kristin Sherman for “Sacrament”
3rd Place: Linda Heuring for “Whatever Will Do”
Honorable Mentions: (in no particular order)
Adam Lucas for “A Modern White Supremacist”
Rajni Gupta for “Indian Railways”
Carol Roan for “The Womb Room”

2009-2010 Winners
Final Judge: Andrew Hartley
1st Place: Gilbert Allen for "Trash"
2nd Place: Mary Margaret Keaton for "Forgotten Again"
3rd Pace: Bretton Holmes for "Hyperbolic Doubt"
Honorable Mentions:
Nicholas Bradley for "Neighbors"
Joseph Cavano for "Soldiers"
Ellar Cooper (submitted as Laura Rebecca Cooper Cook) for "One Blue, One Black and Oranges"

2008-2009 Winners
1st Place: Kristin Sherman for “Not Those Gypsies”
2nd Place: Jennifer Hubbard for “A Sister’s Story”
3rd Place: Tammy Wilson for “The Pink Lady”
Honorable Mentions:
Nicholas Bradey for “The Photograph”
Tootsie O’Hara for “An Amazing Life”
Carol Roan for “The Street Walker”
 
2007-2008 Winners
Judges: Ashley Nissler, Susan Keith & Laurie Edwards (Final Judge)
1st Place: Lynn Veach Sadler for “Getting’ Above My Raisin"
2nd Place: M. A. Tuohy for “A Pair of Epiphanies"
3rd Place: Gwen Veazey for “Sound Moves”
Honorable Mentions:
Elaine St. Anne for “Thirteen Bachelors”
Toccoa Switzer for “When the Music Stops”
 
2006-2007 Winners
Judges: Meredith Hall (Final Judge)

2005-2006 Winners
Judges: Amy Rogers, Kevin Watson & Pinckney Benedict (Final Judge)
1st Place: Susan Woodring for "Radio Vision"
Honorable Mentions:
Elizabeth Hatley for "Diversions"
Betty Wilson Beamguard for "Connie Sue Confesses"
Elaine St. Anne for "Cleaning Up"
 
2004-2005 Winners
Judges: Robert Wallace, Isabel Zuber & Douglas Glover (Final Judge)
1st Place: Shelley Stout for "The Coachella Inn"
2nd Place: Betty Burgin Snow for "The Great Commission"
3rd Place: Elaine Orr for "The Hair Cut"
Honorable Mentions:
Nichole Gause for "Every Good-bye Ain't Gone"
Louisa Jones for "What's Bad for You"
Raymond Morrison for "Shrimp Are Born Dead"

2003-2004 Winners
Judges: Paige Owens, Been Steelman & Fred Leeborn (Final Judge)
1st Place: Sara Claytor for "Variations of Red"
Honorable Mention:
Emily Kern for "A Meeting of the Minds"

2002-2003 Winners
1st Place: Paige Owens for "Winter Journal"
Honorable Mentions:
Nichole Gause for "Work"
Wanda Owings for "Baby Dance"