Kate Vieira Wins ‘Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction’

Congratulations to Kate Vieira, GMWP Director of Faculty, for her essay “Someone Else’s Language” (Guernica Magazine), which received the 2022 Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction. A reading and celebration will be held at Arts & Literature Laboratory (ALL) on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 6 PM. The event is free and open to the public. Contact ritamae@artlitlab.org for further information. Read more at the award announcement:

https://artlitlab.org/programs/literary-arts/wi-writers-awards/kay-w-levin-award-for-short-nonfiction

Someone Else’s Language


The Wisconsin Writers Awards was established in 1964 and is Wisconsin’s longest-running literary award for published work. The eight awards include four awards for books, three awards for short form works including short stories, poetry,and nonfiction, and one special prize for writing by a Wisconsin high school student. The awards celebrate works published in 2022 by writers currently residing in or having lived for a significant period of time in Wisconsin (entries for the Wisconsin Young Writers Award need not have been previously published).

First-place winners of the Wisconsin Writers Awards for work published in 2022 each receive $500 and a five-day writing residency at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point. Honorable mentions receive $50 and week-long residency at Ernest Hüpeden’s Painted Forest in Wonewoc, WI. Out-of-state judges made the decisions for each award.


Kay W. Levin Award for Short NonfictionJudge: Ed KemmickFirst Place: “Someone Else’s Language” (Guernica Magazine) by Kate Vieira,Madison, WIHonorable Mention: “A Headstone for Zach” (The Delacorte Review) by LawrenceTabak, Madison, WI

The Wisconsin Young Writers AwardJudged by the ALL Literary Arts TeamFirst Place: “Birthday Party” (poem) by Imani Fisher, Monona, WIHonorable Mention: “Stinky Fish” (personal essay) by Grace Huang, Madison, WI

Edna Meudt Poetry Book AwardJudge: Mark TurcotteFirst Place: Durable Goods (Véhicule Press/Signal Editions) by James Pollock,Madison, WIHonorable Mention: Jordemoder: Poems of a Midwife (Holy Cow! Press)by Ingrid Andersson, Madison, WI

The Lorine Niedecker Poetry AwardJudge: Tara BettsFirst Place: “Barn Swallows” and other poems, Sky Island Journal,by Angela Williamson Emmert, Manawa, WIHonorable Mention: “Lake Edge, January,” The Hopper, and other poems, byHeather Swan, Madison, WI

The Edna Ferber Fiction Book AwardJudge: Alison StineFirst Place: The Net Beneath Us (Forge Books) by Carol Dunbar, Superior, WIHonorable Mention: Still True (University of Wisconsin Press) by Maggie Ginsberg, Blue Mounds, WIZona Gale Award for Short FictionJudge: Dipika MukherjeeFirst Place: “Sometimes Creek” (New Ohio Review) by Steve Fox, Hudson, WIHonorable Mention: “Beantown” (Acentos Review) by Jennifer Morales, Viroqua, WI

Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book AwardJudge: Harriet N. BrownFirst Place: Fine: A Comic About Gender (Liveright) by Rhea Ewing, El Cerrito, CA(formerly Madison, WI)Honorable Mention: The Green Hour: A Natural History of Home (University ofWisconsin Press) by Alison Townsend, Stoughton, WI

Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature AwardJudge: Michelle HoutsFirst Place: See You Someday Soon (Roaring Brook Press)by Pat Zietlow Miller, Madison, WIHonorable Mention: Crossing the Pressure Line (Orange Hat Publishing)by Laura Anne Bird, Madison, WI

More information about our winners, judges, and guidelines can be found athttps://artlitlab.org/programs/literary-arts/wisconsin-writers-awards.The Wisconsin Writers Awards is a program of Arts and Literature Laboratory, acommunity-driven contemporary non-profit arts organization that supports thevisual, literary, musical and performing arts, presents over 200 free or low-costevents per year, and offers year-round arts education for all ages. ALL nurturesinnovation and the artistic growth of contemporary visual, literary, andperforming artists; connects artists, resources and community; and fuels a passionfor arts and literature. More information about ALL can be found at artlitlab.org.