We’re behind. We know! The problem with The SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition is that the stories are all good. Choosing winners is like choosing a favorite child. This is famously bad parenting. But onward. We have to. So let’s do this. Let’s rip that Band-Aid.
We have narrowed the field to 11 finalists, the top three of which will win some money and our offer to republish their story in our June issue. This is at once thrilling and devastating because we’ve had to remove some excellent work from the list. Please know that we loved all of the around 400 entries this year. It’s been difficult.
If you are just now arriving at this party and have no idea what The SmokeLong Workshop Prize is, no worries. There’s still some finger food in the fridge. The SmokeLong Workshop Prize is a free-to-enter competition for current and previous participants of SmokeLong workshops. We started doing workshops in 2019, so your work is eligible even if you drafted something in a workshop with us way back when we were traveling around the UK doing in-person workshops, or in Perth in 2025, or during any of our dozens and dozens of webinars, A SmokeLong Summers, March Micro Marathons, and of course SmokeLong Fitness. It doesn’t matter if you’re just now finding out about the competition. If you produced something in a SmokeLong workshop and it was subsequently published, you and your amazing work are eligible.
The SmokeLong Workshop Prize 2025 Winners and Finalists
First Place – “The Altar of Saint Cindy” (Vestal Review) by Kate Horsley
Second Place – “Cadillacs on the Moon” (Dishsoap Quarterly) by Travis Flatt
Third Place – “The Word Disorder” (CRAFT) by Allison Field Bell
Finalists (in no particular order)
“Love with a Troll in a Sweet Potato Vine” (Bending Genres) by Mamie Pound
“The Climb” (The Citron Review) by Nicole Desjardins Gowdy
“What we talk about when we talk about Fight Club” (Milk Candy Review) by Lauren Kardos
“The Bright Jar of Our Bodies” (Flash Frog) by Sara Hills
“Blessed” (Necessary Fiction) by Nicole Desjardins Gowdy
“Canned” (Gone Lawn) by Nora Esme Wagner
“The World According to My Grandmother” (AAWW) by Pegah Ouji
“Gretel” (hex) by Jane O’Sullivan
“A Second Mother” (Fourth Genre) by Shira Musicant
