2023 Winners and Honorable Mentions!

Here’s a quick list of our winners and honorable mentions (and a graphic you are all free to share!) We will be updating the rest of the site shortly!

The Verdi L. Tripp Fiction Award: Juliana Delany for “Trespass Point”
Fiction Honorable Mention: Betty Culley for “Widow Maker”
Margaret F. Tripp Poetry Award: Ann VanVolkenburgh Chang for “After”
Poetry Honorable Mention: Cora Kircher for “Ark”
Richard F. Snow Nonfiction Award: Jean Konzal for “Searching for Jenny”
Nonfiction Honorable Mention: Fred Cheney for “Brit”
Nonfiction Honorable Mention: Bonnie Wheeler for “Grandpa’s Porch”
The Crowbait Short Play Award: Josh Gauthier for “Last Call”
Short Play Honorable Mention: Brian Daly for “I’m Leaving My Body to Science”

Submissions opening this Saturday!

Joy of the Pen will be opening for submissions this Saturday! This year, we’re open in the following categories for Maine residents who are 17+: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Fiction and Short Plays. Please click on the submissions tab above for more details instructions. Thanks, as ever, to our sponsors: The Cryer, the Friends of the Topsham Public Library, and The Crowbait Club.

Congratulations to the 2022 winners!

We’re please to announce this year’s winners! We hope you’ll join us to celebrate them at a reception on November 29 at 6pm. Their winning works will be uploaded onto this website soon, and we will also reveal who our judges were this year.

The Verdi L. Tripp Fiction Award: Jim Mentink for “The Seminar”
Fiction Honorable Mention: Lorelei Greenwood-Jones for “Candy House”
Margaret F. Tripp Poetry Award: David Sloan for “Solo”
Poetry Honorable Mention: Cynthia Larson for “Perhaps to Dream”
Richard F. Snow Nonfiction Award: Nancy Browne for “Ricky Rivers”
Nonfiction Honorable Mention: John Reinhart for “Traveling by Platypus”
The Crowbait Short Play Award: Greg Simpson for “3 Hail Mary’s”
Short Play Honorable Mention: Fred Cheney for “Danced to the Fiddle”
TPL Teen Fiction Award: Charlotte Schatz for “To Lend a Hand”
TPL Kids Poetry Award: Luisa Feliciano for “Crow”