Writing Contest Winners
2019 Contest
Pieces were judged on creativity and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what’s possible.
"Drink" by Caitlin Berve from the United States
In the desert live a people made of sand. They rarely speak, for even the slightest movement of air sends their gritty forms into a cloud of dust. It takes weeks for them to coalesce. A child, I lost my way among sandstones and juniper trees and cried until no tears remained. A sand person found me. "Drink," they said, pointing at an unfamiliar cactus, and dissipated. Prying open the fruit, I drank sage-tasting water and knew my way home. Again I find myself lost in a desert, panicked and uncertain. I think of the sand people and drink.
2020 Contest
Pieces were judged on creativity and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what’s possible.
"This Moment" by Malia Maunakea from the United States
Awwwww, look at you
Crouching low, stick in one small fist, rock in the other.
Watching that tiny, fuzzy caterpillar slowly inch its way up that branch.
Time slows, cottonwood floats by, the creek continues its lazy meander.
Remember this moment. This moment won't last forever.
Soon it'll be, "Ok, love, it's time for school!"
Soon it'll be, "I can't believe you're taller than me!"
Soon it'll be, "Be home by nine!"
Soon it'll be, "I love you, see you next December!"
But for now, thank you, caterpillar. Thank you for this moment.
November 2021 Contest
Theme: Abundance
This was the first time we've hosted this contest separately from the Tadpole Press Writing Retreat. Because we weren't quite ready to host an in-person retreat this year due to the pandemic, we opened up this fun little writing competition to everyone.
And what an amazing turnout we had! We received over 500 entries from 33 different countries.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who participated! Do you know what you just did? You created magic. You used finite resources—a mere 100 words—to make abundance, to show us "a World in a Grain of Sand," to make us feel like anything is possible. What a beautiful gift. We are honored.
Because we received so many extraordinary entries, the judging process was much harder than we'd expected. However, we are delighted to have selected the following entries as winners of this year's contest:
First Place: $1,000 USD goes to Benedetta Bambagioni from the Netherlands.
Coincidance?
Today is Edna’s birthday. There are two things she always does on her birthday: bake apple pie and dance.
However, at the local market, someone buys the last apples just before her eyes. “Enjoy the apples, Fred!” shouts the vendor.
Driving back home, singing along to Dean Martin, Edna’s tire goes flat. “My lucky day!” she rejoices.
With the radio still singing, she pulls over to encourage the deflated tire.
A man approaches. One hand extended, and in the other, a bag of apples. “Care to dance, miss?”
Edna smiles, beaming at those apples. “Certainly, Fred.”
So they dance.
Second Place: $450 writing coaching package goes to Ryan McIntyre from New Zealand.
You’ll laugh, but I swore I’d never have kids.
Jack was born a perfect, hairless little potato, with tiny fingers like inquisitive worms and eyes like deep lakes.
He offered a second chance; to be surprised, and delighted, and inspired by the infinite weirdness of life.
The eye-squinting, face-crunching sourness of lemon.
The fuzziness of moss on the neighbour's crooked wooden fence.
The deep, feel-it-in-your-belly rumble of thunder.
The earthy smell of dirt after spring rain.
Bootprints in snow, footprints in sand.
Bare toes skimming freshly clipped grass, and kicking fallen leaves.
I saw the world for the first time.
Third Place: $250 developmental or diversity editing package goes to Lauren Johnson from Scotland.
On Friday, my favourite patient died. Old Bill Wyatt succumbed at last to cancer.
As wind whistled past lead-paned windows, I’d held the wizened hand that rested on the counterpane.
His final words-
“Follow the blackbirds.”
I cycled home through descending twilight, dashing away tears.
Atop the crossroads sign, a blackbird sat twinkling black eyes at me. Unthinking, I followed. Through darkening woods until …
Leaves crunched underfoot. Enormous blackberries, elderberries and scarlet rosehips. Hazelnuts, chestnuts, an abundance of rowan and holly. Triumphant white bindweed, the scent of honeysuckle and woodsmoke. I pirouetted, rich indeed.
The blackbird began to sing.
Congratulations, Benedetta, Ryan, and Lauren! And congratulations to everyone who dared to dream and created a little bit of abundance in this world. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
April 2022 Contest
Theme: The Power of Words
We received over 600 entries from 42 different countries and are delighted to share the following winners with you:
First Place: $1,000 USD goes to Lauren St. George from the United States.
Refuge means trading the sound of exploding shells for the clatter of unfamiliar languages. Exchanging a city of rubble for the garish brightness of his new classroom. On his first day, the children swarm him, 360 degrees of eager, alien sounds slipping past white teeth.
Class begins and he is forgotten. Untethered by understanding, he drifts, carried by a current of homesickness and unbelonging.
A tap on his wrist pulls him to the surface. The girl leans close to him.
Salaam, she whispers.
Salaam, he repeats.
The familiar tug at the corner of his lips feels almost like home.
Second Place: $450 writing coaching package goes to Gillian Musoka from Kenya.
Post-Independence Possibilities
The heat and dryness of those days lent themselves to widespread hostility. At the rallies, our jostling bodies could have started fires. He stood out immediately from the pyromaniacal parade of our political scene, an upright man. One unbowed by the indignities of subjugation. In speeches, his words poured forth like a rainmaker's miracle, filling and sealing the cracks in our parched earth. He insisted that our land was fertile enough. "We must dare to invent the future," he said, and we let him collect us— like so many droplets—into the flow of a mighty river.
Third Place: $250 developmental or diversity editing package goes to Cluny Smith from the United States.
The Power of Words
You said my hair
Was a stinky leaf on fire.
You said my eyes
Were ugly blue blobs.
You said my clothes
Looked like the rags
A poor servant would wear,
Which I was.
You said my hair
Was a beautiful rose.
You said my eyes
Were gorgeous little oceans.
You said my clothes
Looked like the dress
A princess goddess would wear,
Which I was.
Everyday you make me smile.
Everyday you make me cry.
This is the power of words.
Congratulations, Lauren, Gillian, and Cluny! And congratulations to everyone who dared to dream and created a little bit of power in this world. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
November 2022 Contest
We left the theme open this time and judged the pieces on creativity and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible. In addition, we were looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling story.
We received over 900 entries from 40 different countries and are delighted to share the following winners with you:
First Place: $1,000 USD goes to Ella Wong from Hong Kong.
When you peel apples, layers of sunset scarlet curling to petals in your hands, like bits of fiery sky dancing onto you, only you — you feel special.
When you slice apples, blade shearing through flesh with the crisp crunch of wind on sea, like the breeze is kissing you shimmering pearls — you tingle with pleasure.
When you bake apples into warm golden crusts, the tick of the oven a countdown to joy, honeyed fragrance embroidering the air — you fill with buttery sweetness.
And when you gift apple pie to someone, their shining smile tickling away the shadows — you feel loved.
Second Place: $450 writing coaching package goes to Federico De Palma from the United States.
Stars shook the cosmos in
explosions of liquid light.
Atoms, almost cheating,
bended every rule to fuse
into new elements.
Time changed colors
and space itself dilated,
in an almost magical way.
All of this, and more,
for billions of years,
time and time again.
All to have you here, now,
smiling at me.
Third Place: $250 developmental or diversity editing package goes to Jen Emery from the United Kingdom.
Yellow
Too many of us, too long indoors, and the sky is lowering, glowering, threatening rain.
The littlest and I slip out in the mustard dusk to buy eggs, parsley, another bottle of wine.
He is fractious, a rackety marionette, attention snagging on the splintered fence with spyholes, a coot fussing her chicks.
In the verge, a clutch of buttercups. He stretches, presses a flower to my neck.
You love butter, Mum! He smiles.
Do I?
I kneel and cup his chin, raise the petals. His face tilts and fills the charcoal sky
with yellow light, a bright benediction.
Congratulations, Ella, Federico, and Jen! And congratulations to everyone who dared to dream and created a little bit of inspiration in this world. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
April 2023 Contest
Theme: Humor and Lightness as Healing
We received 879 entries from 50 different countries and are pleased to announce the following winners:
First Place: $1,000 USD goes to Sienna Morris from the United States.
Mama would make tea.
Two parts laughter. One part stars.
“My flower, lift your chin. Those eyes belong towards the galaxies. You have dreams to beautify, oceans to lighten, so whenever the clouds collect, make my tea, and smile.”
Now Mama rests in the sea anemones and moon-roses, and the butterflies drift to the beat of her song.
I make the tea in the breezes of our memories. She laughs two crescents ago: “Maia, you’ve got the mint stuck to your fingers. It was mint to be.”
I kiss the green fragments goodbye and grin.
Second Place: $450 writing coaching package goes to Brandon Greene from the United States.
Within these veils of ebony hue,
A heart, a laugh, a dance or two,
A twist of truth and satire's kiss,
To heal the hurt of life's abyss.
Oh, the world may judge with a knowing leer,
But to laugh and love, I'll persevere,
Bound by chains of color and queer,
Yet I rise, in humor, I find my cheer.
In a world that wishes me to be small,
I'll sway, I'll sing, break down the wall,
With mirth, I rise, and still, I stand,
A Black Queer Man, bold and grand.
Third Place: $250 developmental or diversity editing package goes to Chandler Ahart from the United States.
The Botanist
They say that, when you’re struggling, you should buy a plant and name it after yourself. The idea is that nurturing the plant-version of yourself will motivate you to nurture your real self.
I bought a withering tomato plant, replaced the soil, and trimmed the dead limbs. I said, “Hello” to her everyday; calling her by name, my name, of course.
But within the first month, she shriveled and died. Dismayed, I sought professional help. I cried more than I spoke at the first session.
After listening so graciously, the woman replied, “Ma’am, I’m just a botanist.”
Congratulations, Sienna, Brandon, and Chandler! And congratulations to everyone who dared to dream and created a little bit of laughter or lightness in this world. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
November 2023 Contest
We left the theme open this time and judged the pieces on creativity and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible. In addition, we were looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling story.
We received 1,547 entries from 68 different countries. After careful consideration, we are pleased to announce the following winners:
First Place: $2,000 USD goes to Autumn Bettinger from the United States.
Ducky
I met Ducky when he was already stage four. He was dangling out a broken window, one emaciated arm wrapped around a drainpipe, the other spraying bricks. Ducky’s graffiti was always a masterclass; a thousand lifelike birds flocking train cars, alighting on crumbling walls. The birds faded by June, a migration of erosion. In winter, looking for a new place to paint, I found half a mallard tucked under a highway overpass. Ducky’s last tag before the cancer ate him whole.
I shook my can—a thin, rattling eulogy—and released the mallard into flight.
Second Place: $450 writing coaching package goes to Hayden Niemeyer from the United States.
If I could
I’d build an observatory
And fill it
With the sound
Of your voice
And the smell
Of your skin
I’d cover the walls
In visions of you
Paint them tones
Of yellow
Like the vibrancy
Of your soul
Because you
Are a solar system
Bound by gravity
Always holding
My unsteady feet
In place
Always filling
My shaded soul
With the light
Of the moon
And the heat
Of the sun
For you
I’d build an observatory
And I’d forever
Call it
Home
Third Place: $250 developmental or diversity editing package goes to Sarah Lisenbe from the United States.
“Want some sweet tea?” Lilly asked.
It was the kind of day that called for sweet tea. The kind where you wore the air and the mosquitoes were too beat to nip at you.
I hadn’t had sweet tea since memaw died. Memaw was the only one who called me by my name once I told everyone it was Michael and not Mary. Memaw made the best sweet tea. We’d been drinking some when I told her.
I hadn’t told Lilly about that.
“Yeah, I’ll take some.”
I took a sip. It was as sweet as I remembered.
Congratulations, Autumn, Hayden, and Sarah! And congratulations to everyone who dared to dream and created a little bit of inspiration in this world. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
Thank You
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has dared to dream and share your words, story, and heart with us. You matter. Your dreams matter. Keep writing.
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