MADISON, WI – The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters announces finalists in this year’s Fiction & Poetry Contest. Many of the poems and stories that have made it to this stage in the judging will be featured over the next year in the Academy’s magazine, Wisconsin People & Ideas.
Contest judges Rebecca Dunham (poetry) and Amy Quan Barry (fiction) and Wisconsin People & Ideas Editor Chris Chambers praised the high level of writing submitted in the 2022 contest cycle.
“The overall quality of the submissions was exceptional this year and we enjoyed reading them,” said Chambers.
The Wisconsin People & Ideas Fiction & Poetry Contest began in 1994. Each year, the contest draws writing submissions from around Wisconsin. The 2022 contest winners will be announced later this month and will receive cash prizes, a reading at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, and a one-week residency at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point.
Fiction Contest Finalists
“Simeon and the Bad Kid” by Margaret Benbow, Madison
“The Evolution of Marvin Skellig” by Peg Cadigan, Thiensville
“Feldstein’s Dog” by Gene James Gilbert, Baraboo
“Seasons of Love” by Walker Guzowski, Milwaukee
“Sadie in Love” by Nancy Jesse, Madison
“Bread and Butter” by Andrew McDonnell, Beaver Dam
“In Rock Springs When the Angel Trumpets Sound” by Tom Pamperin, Chippewa Falls
“No Other Dog” by Jerry Peterson, Janesville
“Snow Door” by Janie Wilberg, Milwaukee
“Down in the Valley” by Richie Zaborowske, Appleton
Poetry Contest Finalists
“A Couple Months After My Father’s Death I Read About Songbirds Mysteriously Dying in Pennsylvania” by Alecia Beymer, Madison
“Sun Black” by Bruce Dethlefsen, Westfield
“Effigy Mound” by John Freiburger, Fitchburg
“Of Genesis” by Nicholas Gulig, Fort Atkinson
“Amor Fati” by Nicholas Gulig, Fort Atkinson
“It is, It’s Not” by Jim Landwehr, Waukesha
“Memorial Days” by Claire Lewandowski, Madison
“Home in the Borderland” by Curt Meine, Sauk City
“Neptune” by Jess L. Parker, Fitchburg
“Warm Socks” by Alejandro Puig, Viola
“Rose Convictions” Georgia Ressmeyer, Sheboygan
“This is First Son / Second Son” by Nick Sengstock, Madison
“Survival Skills for the Anthropocene” by Lailah Dainin Shima, Madison
“Letter to My Mother in Winter” by R. B. Simon, Madison
“Full Disclosure” by Bruce Taylor, Chippewa Falls
