The Virginia Quarterly Review recently announced the winners of the Emily Clark Balch Prizes in Fiction and Poetry, the Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction, and the VQR Prize for Photography (see list below). Our warmest congratulations go out to Puerto Rican poet Martín Espada for winning the award for poetry!

The Emily Clark Balch Prizes and the Staige D. Blackford Prize were created to honor the best writing to appear in the pages of VQR each year. Past recipients include John Berryman, Philip Caputo, Pauline W. Chen, Carolyn Forché, Natasha Trethewey, and Kevin Young. The VQR Prize for Photography was created to recognize the best photo portfolio to appear in our pages. Each prize includes a monetary award of $1,000.

Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction
Karen Palmer
“Birds of Paradise”
(Summer)

Emily Clark Balch Prize for Poetry
Martín Espada
“Award Ceremony Nightmare With Swedish Meatballs”
“Big Bird Died for Your Sins”
“Look at This”
“Love Song of the Disembodied Head in a Jar”
(Winter)

Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction
Ed Pavlić
“At the Mercy of the Light”
(Winter)

The VQR Prize for Photography
Jenna Garrett
“This Holy Hill”
(Summer)

To read poems and for more information, visit https://www.vqronline.org/vqr-congratulates-2022-prize-winner and  https://www.vqronline.org/vqr-congratulates-2022-prize-winner.