AWARDS

awards

Each year, descant offers four awards:

  • the $500 Frank O’Connor Award for fiction (for the best short story in an issue)
  • the $250 Gary Wilson Award (for an outstanding story in an issue)
  • the $500 Betsy Colquitt Award for poetry (for the best poem or series of poems by a single author in an issue)
  • the $250 Baskerville Publishers Award (for an outstanding poem or poems by a single author in an issue

There is no application process or reading fee. All published submissions are eligible for prize consideration. Simply submit your work.

 

2021 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500)
“That Could Be Us Someday” by Sean Littlefield Chumley

Gary Wilson Short Fiction Award ($250)
“Acting the Fool” by Jacqueline Guidry

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500)
“My Wife Never Ate Asparagus” by Sean Thomas Dougherty

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250)
“Waiting for Water” by Warren Woessner

 

2020 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500)
“Griswold” by Patricia Horvath

Gary Wilson Short Fiction Award ($250)
“Down from the Mountain” by Heath Dollar

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500)
“Meltwater” by Claire Wahmanholm

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250)
“In the Nave of the New World” by Elton Glaser

 

2019 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
Midge Raymond for “[Indistinct Conversation]”

Gary Wilson Short Story Award ($250):
Patty Houston for “Corporation Alley”

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
Crystal Yeung for “My Mother in a Sea Captain Outfit by a Lake with a Girl in a Dress, Taishan, 1984”

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
Nathan Stabenfeldt for “Redshift”

 

2018 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
Gregory Wolos for “Balance”

Gary Wilson Short Story Award ($250):
Dan Pope for “Cape Cod, 1979”

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
Ken Haas for “The Path of Totality”

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
Todd Copeland for “Crabbing”

 

2017 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
“The Aquarium” by Brad Eddy

Gary Wilson Short Fiction Award ($250):
“Ever After” by Toni Jensen

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
“Anniversary” by Kelly Nelson

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
“For You (when you find your hair on my floor)” by Alexis Trevino

 

2016 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
Tom Bennitt for “Nor’easter”

Gary Wilson Short Story Award ($250):
Kim Magowan for “Like Salt”

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
Christopher Davis for “Against Pride”

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
Adam Day for “Nothing’s Branch”

 

2015 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
Ann Glaviano for “New Hampshire”

Gary Wilson Short Story Award ($250):
Hasanthika Sirisena for “Treble Seven, Double Naught”

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
Sean Thomas Dougherty for “You Are Beautiful as the Absence of Air”

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
Nancy Reddy for “Little, Red”

 

2014 Contest Winners:

Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction ($500):
Tyrone Jaeger for “To Thy Speed Add Wings”

Gary Wilson Short Story Award ($250):
Jennifer Moffett for “A Peculiar Apocalypse Behind the Gates”

Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award ($500):
Ada Limón for “Day of Song, Day of Silence”

Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award ($250):
Henry Israeli for “The Great Soviet Space Dog Experiment”