[by Will Aime] Every year, WITS sends a packet of the fiction, poetry, and graphic comic pieces that will be featured in the Anthology to well-known local publications. Editors at these publications choose their favorite piece and award it a prize. This year, WITS reached out to Tin House, Glimmer Train, Burnside Review, and The Oregonian.
Sid Miller, founder and editor of the Burnside Review, chose to give Ana Maria Gunter the Burnside Review Prize for Poetry for her “Poem 2.” The Burnside Review is a Portland-based small press that has a proud history of publishing the city’s finest poetry and fiction pieces, and has distributed many awards to WITS student writers over the years.
Matthew Dickman, the poetry editor of Tin House, wrote that he loved reading all of the poems but ultimately chose Ike E-Pillova’s poem “Demigod” for the Tin House Prize for Poetry. Tin House has a long history as “a singular lovechild of an eclectic literary journal and a beautiful glossy magazine.”
Susan Burmeister Brown, co-founder and editor at Glimmer Train, also enjoyed reading all of the prose pieces. In the end, she awarded Zawadi Doti the Glimmer Train Prize for Prose for her short story “Memorious Home,” calling the story “a joy to read” and “breathtaking.” Glimmer Train is Portland’s oldest literary magazine and has maintained a firm commitment to supporting Portland’s writers of all ages.
Lastly, Michael Russell at The Oregonian awarded Kaia Herrin The Oregonian Prize for Prose for her short story “The Implications of Grief,” impressed with her strong opening and closing lines. He particularly thought that Herrin’s observation about Hollywood funerals was “spot-on and funny,” and noted that he hopes Herrin will continue writing well into the future. The Oregonian has always maintained a commitment to supporting the arts in Oregon, and continues to do so today.
WITS is grateful to the editors who took time out of their busy schedules to appreciate these fine examples of student work, and we would like to once again congratulate the student writers who won this year’s awards!
