CutBank's 2019 Genre Contest Winners — CutBank Literary Magazine

Announcing our 2024 Genre Contest Winners:

April 23, 2024

We are excited to announce the winners and finalists of the 2024 CutBank Genre Contests, judged by Christine Byl, Toni Jensen, and Christina Olson. We appreciate every submission we get — thank you for the opportunity to read your work. The winning stories will be published in CutBank 101 this summer.

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Winner, Montana Prize in Nonfiction: “Kansas Tries to Say Goodbye” by Ruby Hansen Murray

Judged by Toni Jensen

Praise for “Kansas Tries to Say Goodbye” from Toni Jensen: “In “Kansas Tries to Say Goodbye,” Ruby Hansen Murray centers Osage language reclamation and community building in its rightful home on the South Plains. This essay shows the importance of language and land while also telling the compelling story of the language teachers, their histories and processes and deep commitment. The essay’s images and language carry the beauty and motion of the place and people with grace and love. It’s a beautiful portrait of connection.”

Ruby Hansen Murray is a columnist for the Osage News and a MacDowell and Hedgebrook fellow. Find her in Cascadia: A Field Guide, Ecotone, Pleiades, Moss, World Literature Today, the Massachusetts Review, The Rumpus, and Colorlines. She’s a citizen of the Osage and Cherokee Nations with West Indian roots living along the Columbia River.

Winner, Montana Prize in Fiction: “Joining the Pack” by E. Klein

Judged by Christine Byl

Praise for “Joining the Pack” from Christine Byl: “I have always been fascinated by the lives of dogs, and believe them to be kin to humans, yet it’s the rare story that can inhabit an animal’s consciousness without raising my hackles. E. Klein’s “Joining the Pack” is a rare story—inventive but unselfconscious, empathetic but not sentimental, and weird in the best possible way. With choices of diction, syntax and rhythm, the story creates its own logic, making for a nimble, imaginative romp that grabs a reader by the scruff and licks our sorrows into belonging.”

E. William Klein is from Ketchikan, Alaska, and worked in the commercial fishing industry there for 8 years. He received his MFA in Fiction from the Helen Zell Writer's program at the University of Michigan in 2016. His writing was awarded Honorable Mention in Bellevue Literary Review's 2024 Goldberg Prize for Fiction and has otherwise appeared in Carve and MQR.

Winner, Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry: “Sometimes when I am traveling alone I think of having a drink again in an airport bar” by Caitlin Scarano

Judged by Christina Olson

Praise for “Sometimes when I am traveling alone I think of having a drink again in an airport bar” by Christina Olson: "I love a good narrative poem, and "Sometimes when I am traveling alone I think of having a drink again in an airport bar" isn't a good narrative poem, it's a great one. We're in the airport with our speaker, wrestling with the dilemma to break seven years of sobriety, and then here comes the father, singing and cooing to his rotten liver. The airport is littered with men, their suitcase wheels making noise, and the father, not in the airport but riding on the shoulders of the speaker, and the estranged family, and the limitations of the body. Our speaker weaves all this trauma into a brief, shining story of abuse and heartbreak and--most essentially--survival. Sometimes we sit next to strangers at airport bars to hear stories; sober or not, you don't need to make friends over a $17 Heineken when you have this poem, which is better than any story a businessman connecting through DFW could tell you anyway.”

Caitlin Scarano is a writer based in Bellingham, Washington. Her second full length collection of poems,* The Necessity of Wildfire*, was a finalist for the WA State Book Award. Find her at caitlinscarano.com.

We are thrilled to announce that our judges have chosen the winners of this year’s genre contests! Every year we receive wonderful submissions, and they are always a pleasure to read.

2019 Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction

Arya Samuelson - Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction.jpeg

Cheryl Strayed, author of the acclaimed memoir Wild, has chosen the winner of this year’s Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction.

Winner: “Sanctum” by Arya Samuelson

Arya Samuelson’s prose has been published in Entropy, The Millions, and Hematopoiesis Press. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and is writing her first novel. In a surprising twist of fate, Arya directs a new synagogue in Brooklyn. You can find her at www.aryasamuelson.com.

Finalists:

Maryah Converse

Meredith Clark

Jonathan Wei

Briana Loveall

Heather Quinn

2019 Montana Prize in Fiction

The wonderful Joe Wilkins has chosen a winner for this year’s Montana Prize in Fiction.

Winner: “this life of (y)ours” by Laura Price Steele

Laura Price Steele is a writer and editor currently living in Wilmington, NC, where she earned her MFA from UNCW. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Blue Mesa Review, and Solstice Magazine, among others. You can find her at laurapricesteele.com.

Finalists:

Molly Sturdevant

Carlos Rafael Gomez

Elizabeth Hall

Toni Judnitch

Nick Almeida

Kate Garklavs

Rachel Furey

2019 Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry

We’re happy to announce Alicia Mountain’s selection for this year’s Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry.

Winner: “YYX to AMS,” by Erin Russell

Erin Russell @etcall is winner of the 2019 Able Muse Fiction Prize and UofT's Wycliffe College Poetry Award. Currently subeditor at Black Bough, her work has appeared in Burning House, Train, and Time Out. She lectures at Amsterdam University College.

Finalists:

Brittany Tomaselli

John Sibley Williams

Samuel Piccone

David Sam

A. Crabtree

A huge thank you to our amazing judges, and to all of you for submitting your work. Look for the winning pieces in the next issue of CutBank!

The 2020 Montana Prizes in Creative Nonfiction and Fiction, as well as the Patricia Goedicke Poetry Prize, open on November 9th. Stay tuned for an announcement about the upcoming year’s judges.

Announcing our 2024 Genre Contest Winners:

Winner, Montana Prize in Nonfiction: “Kansas Tries to Say Goodbye” by Ruby Hansen Murray

Judged by Toni Jensen

2024 Nonfiction Contest Finalists:

Winner, Montana Prize in Fiction: “Joining the Pack” by E. Klein

Judged by Christine Byl

2024 Fiction Contest Finalists:

Winner, Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry: “Sometimes when I am traveling alone I think of having a drink again in an airport bar” by Caitlin Scarano

Judged by Christina Olson

2024 Patricia Goedicke Contest Runner-Up:

2024 Patricia Goedicke Contest Finalists:

Announcing our 2023-2024 Big Sky, Small Prose Winners:

**All three of these finalists will be published in issue 100 of CutBank, our winter/spring issue. Stay tuned in 2024 for details!**

2019 Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction

Winner: “Sanctum” by Arya Samuelson

2019 Montana Prize in Fiction

Winner: “this life of (y)ours” by Laura Price Steele

2019 Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry

Winner: “YYX to AMS,” by Erin Russell

A huge thank you to our amazing judges, and to all of you for submitting your work. Look for the winning pieces in the next issue of CutBank!