The Emily Clark Balch Prizes and the Staige D. Blackford Prize were created to honor the best writing to appear in the pages of VQR each year. Past recipients include John Berryman, Philip Caputo, Pauline W. Chen, Carolyn Forché, Natasha Trethewey, and Kevin Young. The VQR Prize for Photography was created to recognize the best photo portfolio to appear in our pages. Each prize includes a monetary award of $1,000.
Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction
Celia Bell, “Annihilation” (Summer)
Emily Clark Balch Prize for Poetry
Carl Phillips, “And If I Fall”; “Dangerous Only When Disturbed”; “My Monster”; “Star Map With Action Figures” (Fall)
Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction
Lili Loofbourow, “The Male Glance” (Spring)
and Raj Telhan, “Foreign Bodies” (Winter)
The VQR Prize for Photography
Andres Gonzalez, “American Origami” (Fall)