Prairie Schooner awards literary prizes for work published in 2022

With generous supporters of the literary arts, Prairie Schooner was able to award 13 writing prizes totaling $8,250 for work published by established and emerging writers in the 2022 editions.

Sahar Mustafa received the $2,000 Lawrence Foundation Award for the best short story published in Prairie Schooner for “Star of Bethlehem,” published in the Spring 2022 issue. This prize is made possible by the Lawrence Foundation of New York City and its late director, Leonard S. Bernstein.

The winner of the $1,500 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award was Laura Da’ for the essay, “Passing the Frontier,” published in the Spring 2022 issue. This award is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher, and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

The $1,000 Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing award was given to Claire Hennessy for the story, “Pedagogy,” published in the Fall 2022 issue. The Faulkner Award is supported by charitable contributions to honor Virginia Faulkner, former editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press and Schooner fiction editor.

Nicholas Samaras won the 2022 Edward Stanley Award of $1,000 for the poem, “Exile Dossier,” published in the Spring 2022 issue. This award is made possible through charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926.

The 2022 winner of the $500 Bernice Slote Award for the best work by a beginning writer was Kianna Eberle for her essay, “Laid There,” published in the Fall 2022 issue. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, who worked as a Prairie Schooner editor from 1963-1980.

The Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award of $500 for the best poem or group of poems published was awarded to Lizabeth Oreoluwa Bamgboye for three poems featured in the Winter 2022 issue. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

Ghassan Zeineddine won the 2022 Hugh J. Luke Award of $250 for the poem “Zizou’s Voice,” published in the Summer 2022 issue. The Hugh J. Luke Award was established in memory of Prairie Schooner’s editor from 1980 through 1987.

The $250 Jane Geske Award was given to Jessica Nirvana Ram for two poems featured in the Fall 2022 issue. This award is provided by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, Jane Geske, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska’s literary arts.

Five writers were awarded annual Glenna Luschei Schooner Awards for $250 each:

• Amber Wheeler Bacon for the story “Small Pleasures” in Spring 2022
• Marisa Crane for the essay “ADOPTION 200: ADOPTION REQUEST FORM, OR, HOW TO ADOPT YOUR OWN CHILD” in Winter 2022
• Mai Der Vang for the story “Injury After Another” in Winter 2022
• Brianna Di Monda for the story “Amazon Women (My Family’s Life in the Ten Years before My Birth)” in Summer 2022
• Anastacia Rene for the poem “The Water” in Spring 2022

These awards are made possible through the generosity of Glenna Luschei.

Prairie Schooner is published with support from the University of Nebraska Press, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of English and its Creative Writing Program and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation. Subscriptions may be ordered by visiting the Prairie Schooner website. You can also follow Prairie Schooner on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Prairie Schooner welcomes and appreciates gifts in support of its annual prizes. Visit the Nebraska Foundation website [here](https://nufoundation.org/fund/01077002/ or here https://nufoundation.org/fund/01019090/) to make a gift.