The 2024 – 2025 Winners and Runners-up were presented during the 35th gala black tie annual meeting of the Society at the Ursuline Convent on Sunday, September 28, 2025. And the winners Are:
Book of Fiction
Not the Same River By Patrica Barone, St. Paul, MN
The winner was selected by Pulitzer Prize winning author,
Robert Olen Butler, who said this about Ms. Barone’s novel:
Non-Fiction Book
Broken Ornaments By Elsie B. Michie of Baton Rouge, LA
Novella
The Beast Hunter By Megan Baxter, Springfield, NH
Short Story
Honey Cake By Russell Working: Oak Park, IL
Book-in Progress
Hurricanes & Other Stories
By Lyn Sandin Di Lorio, New York, NY
Essay
Dear Viewer of My Naked Body
By Beth Ann Fennelly, Oxford, MS
Poetry Collection
Poems from Riffs on My Mother
By Richard Katrovas, Prague, Checkoslovakia
Individual Poem
Izzie’s Beans
By Cassandra Delaney of New Orleans, LA
Short Story by a High School Student:
Treeline
By Yossi Rosen of McLean, VA
For more information about the winners, lists of runners-up and other finalists in the 2024-2025 competition, Click Here!