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VQR Congratulates 2016 Prize Winners

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 2016.

Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction
Bret Anthony Johnston, “Dixon” (Summer)

Emily Clark Balch Prize for Poetry
Beth Bachmann, “the ones”; “peace”; “to the assassin”; “overcome” (Fall)

Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction
Amanda Petrusich, “Night Moves” (Summer)
and Amy Woolard, “Tent Revival” (Fall)

The VQR Prize for Photography
Jason Florio, “Out of the Sea” (Winter)