WINNERS OF THE 2017 BRIGHTHORSE PRIZE

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SHORT FICTION

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Winner: Carrie Messenger, In the Amber Chamber 

Finalist: Wendell Mayo, Twice-Born World

Finalist: George Harbeson, Shadowed Times​

Finalist: Iver Arnegard, On the Divide

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POETRY

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Winner: Judith Small, Same Water Flowing

Finalist: Gary Fincke, The Infinity Room

Finalist: Taiyon J. Coleman, Chicago on the Day Brother Increases His

Chances of Reaching Age 21

Finalist: Janet Wallace, Big Blonde Rising

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NOVEL

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Winner: David Bajo, The Ensenada Public Library

Finalist: Kathleen Sands, In-Between People

Finalist: Mark Brazaitis, American Season

Finalist: Rochelle Distelheim, Sadie In Love

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The winners will each receive $1,000 and publication by Brighthorse Books. Congratulations to the winners, the finalists, and to all the writers who submitted. To learn about The Brighthorse Prize, go to  

https://brighthorsebooks.submittable.com/submit

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"With a Coat" to Appear in American Life in Poetry

3/9/18

Dante DiStefano's poem "With a Coat," from his Brighthorse Prize-winning Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight will be included in former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's celebrate newspaper column American Life in Poetry. Watch for it!

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Praise for Daryl Farmer's Where We Land

3/9/18

Rob Davidson had this to say in Western American Literature about Where We Land: "Written in lucid,  polished sentences inspiring both angst and awe, Where We Land is a fine collection celebrating 'the great unfinished jigsaw puzzle of our human lives.'"

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Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight Named Finalist for the 2017 Phillip McMath Post-Publication Book Award

3/3/18

​Dante Di Stefano's award-winning collection of poetry Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight  has been chosen as a finalist for the 2017 Phillip McMath Post-Publication Book Award, sponsored by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. Congratulations, Dante!

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Sharon Chmielarz Poem Chosen for American Life in Poetry and Bearings Online

3/3/18

Sharon Chmielarz's poem "Fisher's Club," from her Brighthorse collection The Widow's House., has appeared in American Life in Poetry. The poem was also reprinted in Bearings Online.

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The Widow's House Chosen as Finalist for Next Generation Indie Book Awards

3/3/18

​Sharon Chmielarz's Brighthorse collection The Widow's House. was chosen as a finaiist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

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Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight Named Honor Book for the 2017 Paterson Poetry Prize

4/17/17

​Dante Di Stefano's collection of poetry Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight  has been chosen as the Honor Book for the 2017 Paterson Poetry Prize, sponsored by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. Congratulations, Dante!

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Spells for Victory and Courage Singled Out for Praise

2/7/17

​Dana Fitz Gale's Spells for Victory and Courage received a rave review from the Missoula Independent, which chose the book as one of the ten best of 2016 and said, "These stories are a reminder that everyone—nosy neighbors and teenage store clerks and pushy real estate agents—contains a depth of mystery, if only we look closely enough."

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2017 Reading Period for The Brighthorse Prize is Now Open

1/26/17

​The Brighthorse Book Prize, now in its fourth year, is an annual awards series honoring unpublished novels, collections of short fiction, and poetry collections. Three prizes will be given in 2017. Authors writing in English—regardless of nationality, residence, or publication history—may submit to the competition. Winning manuscripts will be published by Brighthorse Books. A $1,000 prize and publication will be offered to one writer in each category. The editors reserve the right to offer to publish any manuscripts submitted to the competition in addition to the prize winners. The deadline is August 16, 2017. For more information or to submit, go to https://brighthorsebooks.submittable.com/submit. 

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2016 Winners of the Brighthorse Prize

1/26/17

Judging for 2016 took longer than we anticipated because of the number of strong submissions, but we're very excited to announce the 2016 winners of the Brighthorse Prize:

 

Peter Grandbois for his collection of poetry This House That

Alina Stefanescu for her collection of short stories Every Mask I Tried On

Mary Rose O'Reilley for her novel Bloodroot

 

The winners have received $1,000 each, and their books will be published as paperback originals by Brighthorse Books and made available through Ingram.

 

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to those who submitted. The 2017 contest is open, and we hope to see more of your work. For more information, go to https://brighthorsebooks.submittable.com/submit.

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Sharon Chmielarz's The Widow's House Named to Kirkus Reviews'  Best Books of 2016

1/26/17

​We're very pleased to announce that The Widow's House, Brighthorse poetry collection by Sharon Chmielarz, has been named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2016. The Kirkus reviewer wrote, "Spare, powerful, well-crafted poems that perceptively anatomize grief." Congrats, Sharon! Click here for more information about The Widow's House.

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Lon Otto's A Man in Trouble Named Honor Book for the Nebraska Book Award

1/26/17

We're very pleased to announce that Lon Otto's story collection A Man in Trouble has been named an Honor Book in the 2016 Nebraska Book Awards competition. Congrats, Lon! Click here for more information about A Man in Trouble.

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Daryl Farmer Wins Alaska Literary Award

1/26/17

​Daryl Farmer, author of Where We Land, has won a 2016 Alaska Literary Award for creative nonfiction from the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation. Congrats, Daryl! Click here for more information about his prize-winning collection of short fiction from Brighthorse--W

here We Land.