The Judges

Bill Cotter was born in Dallas in 1964. His fiction and essays have appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly, The Paris Review, the 2014 Pushcart Prize anthology, and elsewhere. He lives in Austin with the storyteller and poet Annie La Ganga.

Mo Daviau holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan, where her novel, Every Anxious Wave, won a Hopwood Award, and where she taught short story writing to undergrads. She is a frequent contributor to Bedpost Confessions, and her newest play, Gold Dust, will be produced by Gnap! Theater Projects this September. Her eyebrows were featured in the Jan. 17 issue of this very paper.

Manuel Gonzales is the author of The Miniature Wife and Other Stories and the forthcoming novel, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! He is also the executive director of Austin Bat Cave, a writing and tutoring center for kids. Sometimes he bakes pies.

Lauren Modery is a writer, blogger, and screenwriter based out of Austin, Texas. Loves Her Gun, a film she co-wrote and co-produced, premiered at SXSW 2013 and won the Louis Black Lone Star Award. When she's not writing on her blog, Hipstercrite, she can be found daydreaming about Rick Moranis.

Benjamin Reed's story "Better This Way" won first place in last year's Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest. He has a short story in the current issue of Big Fiction magazine and another forthcoming in The Seattle Review. He lives in Austin and online at www.benjamin-reed.com.