Announcing Our 2018 Remember in November Contest for Creative Nonfiction Finalists – Contest Update 2

This year’s Remember in November Contest for Creative Nonfiction drew hundreds of submissions from around the United States and beyond. Our volunteer reading panel and managing editor narrowed down these entries to five finalists.

A big Hippocampus congratulations to:

• Laura Gilkey (“Portraits of a Dying Day”)
• Adriana Gonzalez (“Sights of a Narrowleaf Milkweed”)
• Jessica Reed (“The Gospel Bus”)
• Keith Skinner (“Nickel Men”)
• Linda Stead (“The Cyclops Child”)

Next Steps

All five of these stories will appear in the November 2018 issue of Hippocampus, and, at this time, we’ll also announce our winner ($1,000) and runner-up ($250)!

We were so excited to welcome author Krystal A. Sital (Secrets We Kept: Three Women of Trinidad) as this year’s guest judge. After she read and reviewed the finalist stories, she had this to say:

“It was my honor to judge these works of art for this contest. The range of emotions I’ve been through after reading these stories has left me exhausted but I walk away from them changed. Your words and worlds are important and powerful. May all of our stories always be told.” — Krystal Sital

Which one takes the grand prize this year? Find out in our November 2018 issue! We can’t wait for you to read these stories.

Semi-Finalists and Short List

We’d also like to recognize a group of writers whose work rose to the top this year. The following writers and stories made our short list, and we indicated those who moved on to a semi-finalist list:

• Beth Bailey (“Another George Jones”)
• Kairi Freudenberg (“Quilting with a Dead Woman”)
• Jill Gallagher (“Brain Chemistry”)
• Roberta Gibson (“Sharp Memories”) – semi-finalist
• Mallory Gill (“Eat This”) – semi-finalist
• Laura Gray (“The Holding Place”)
• Rebecca Gummere (“Dialogue With My Sister”)
• Andrea Jarrell (“Rabbit, Rabbit”) – semi-finalist
• Evelyn Krieger (“In the Driver’s Seat”) – semi-finalist
• Lina Lau (“Spinning on a Fish Hook”)
• Susan Fagalde Lick (“All I Could Do Was Sing”)
• Marianna Marlowe (“Fear”)
• Susan Masters (“Connection”)
• Francesca McCarthy (“Numbers on a Scale”)
• Alexandra McIntosh (“As Above, So Below”)
• Kathy Palko (“Becoming Subject 8”)
• Forest Ray (“The Weight of a Lie in Thin Air”)
• Dorothy Rice (“Writing Prompts for Girls”)
• Marsha St. Claire-Buza (“Start With the Presser Foot Down”)
• Jason Schwartzman (“Which World We’re In”)
• Christie Tate (“Buried in My Wrong Body”)
• Caroline Ziemke (“Haunted”) – semi-finalist

A big shout-out to our reading panel for their hard work and dedication. We’d also like to thank everyone who submitted to this year’s contest; as always, we enjoyed reading these stories and found it incredibly challenging to select finalists. One thing is certain: there are SO many stories that need to be told.

Stay tuned for our grand prize winner announcement!