To honor the best writing to appear in our pages each year, VQR created the Emily Clark Balch Prize and the Staige D. Blackford Prize. Past recipients include John Berryman, Philip Caputo, Pauline W. Chen, Carolyn Forché, and Natasha Trethewey. The VQR Prize for Photography was created to recognize the best photo essay to appear in VQR. Each prize includes a monetary award of $1,000.
We congratulate the following prizewinners for 2015.
Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction
Todd James Pierce, “Keller in Effects” (Summer)
Emily Clark Balch Prize for Poetry
Kevin Young, “Repast” (Spring)
Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction
Lili Loofbourow, “Bull Shipping” (Summer)
The VQR Prize for Photography
Matt Black, “The Geography of Poverty” (Summer)