Waasnode Fiction Prize winner and finalists announced!

Congratulations to Nancy Nguyen and her story “Breach", the winner of this year’s Waasnode Short Fiction Prize!

Judge María Alejandra Barrios on the winning story: A fascinating exploration about the disappearance of a brilliant student called Christina Le. I enjoyed the intrigue, the tension, and the hard-hitting questions this piece posed about mythology, power, collective stories, the disappearance of women, and who gets to hold the truth and who gets to tell the story. An unforgettable story that soars with originality, honest prose, and ambiguity at every turn.

Nancy Nguyen grew up in Orange County, California and currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she is an Advanced Opportunity Fellow and an English PhD candidate at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She was a 2019 Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow and a 2021 Susanna McCorkle Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, The Georgia Review, swamp pink, and the Jellyfish Review. Nancy is at work on a speculative collection and novel.

Congratulations as well to our Honorable Mentions:

“The Rub” by Colton Huelle

“The Abduction” by Annie Vitalsey

And to our finalists:

“The Murray Slaughter Experience” by Robert Dall
“We Are All Mad Women” by Delight Ejiaka
“The Vegetarian” by Nafisa Iqbal
“Signs of Life” by Marc Gumbin

Thanks to everybody who entered. Look for the winning story in Issue 46 coming out in spring 2025!