First Place: “To Need, the Women Say”
Mary Terrier is a native Texan who spent this past fall teaching English in a sugarcane farming community just outside Chichigalpa, Nicaragua.
Second Place: “The Butcher’s Hands”
Dana De Greff was born in Miami and spent much of her childhood in West Africa. Before moving to Austin, she lived in Spain teaching English to children and adults. In 2011, she graduated from UT-Austin with a master’s degree in creative writing. This short story is an excerpt from her first novel.
Third Place: “Sheds”
Melanie Westerberg is the author of the novella City in the River, City in the Forest (Hag’s Head Press). Her short fiction has appeared in Best New American Voices 2006, Mid-American Review, RozRazil, Third Coast, Torpedo, and other journals, and she holds an MFA in writing from the California College of the Arts. She was born in Iowa and lives in Austin with musician Dan “The Bassturd” Butler and two orange cats.
Honorable Mention: “The Empanada Break”
Nancy Lili Gonzalez, a Chicago native and a native Spanish speaker, is a poet. She has been published in The Broken Plate, The Rumpus, Round Top Poetry Anthology, and Sorin Oak Review.
Honorable Mention: “This Drought’s Come Undone”
P. Tyson Midkiff is from West Texas. He has lived in Austin for some time. At the time of this writing he was 31. He’s content.
Other Finalists: (In alphabetical order by author): Steven Blaisdell (“Stones”), Joseph Hill (“Sitting High”), Jason Lee (“dress him neat”), David Norman (“Color Jesus”), Rob Reynolds (“Sing to Me When I’m Dying”)
This article appears in February 10 • 2012.