Wild Women Story Contest
(Spring/Summer issue)
Deadline: March 8 (International Women's Day)
Release: May 15
2024 Grand Prize Winner
Our Fairy Tale by Victoria Castañeda
2024 Honorable Mentions/Contributors
After a Long Walk, I Talk to Myself by Kayla Heinze
Feral by Suzanne Chick
Feral by Eddi Salado
For Circe by Lauren Hayes
If the Word for You Is Dyke by Robin Percyz
I’m Not the Heroine of Your Cancer Novel by Laura E. Garrard
In case you didn’t know by Joanne Gram
In the Middle of Nowhere by Rosie Cohan
Laundry by Esther Ra
Monkey Balls by Connie Corzilius
Not expecting to fly. Flying anyway by Erin Robertson
Queen of Wands by Stephanie Whetstone
Re: My Continued Tardiness by Mary Paulson
Say Goodbye to the Boob by Susan Jensen
Song for the black cat outside my mother’s
apartment by Kinsale Drake
still life (talking) by Stephanie Renee Payne
The Cambium Layer by Elinor Davis
The Procedure by Molly Murfee
While Your Back Was Turned by Hampton Williams Hofer
2024 Semifinalists
A Long Goodbye by Meryl Natchez
After a Long Walk, I Talk to Myself by Kayla Heinze
Akire by Remilekun Adisa
alice under siege by Sarah Jay Sanders
An Ocean of My Own by Hannah Taylor
An Unkindness by Broderick Eaton
Another Apology by Meagan Marshall
Aubade: Without Regret by Shutta Crum
Battle Cry by Janet A. Warrington
Becoming Athena by Alexandra Kostoulas
Beet by Katelin Pomper
Big Rig by Ellen Berman
by invitation only by Sarah Jay Sanders
Catamounts Calling by Sarah Ellis
Come to the Lake House by Leila Batatian Springer
Desire by Jess Trần Boyd
Devil’s Work by W Goodwin
Drowning by Josh Levy
earthling by Mara Erdman
Egret by Alison Luterman
Eight Weeks by Melissa Tsuei
Emerald by Kathleen McLaughlin
Emily and I by Holly Maurer-Klein
Eugenia in Gallup by Joan Stack Kovach
Exile Synopsis by Mattie Elese Hunt
Feral by Suzanne Chick
Feral by Eddi Salado
For Circe by Lauren Hayes
Fucking in Portuguese by Grace Beeler
Giantess by Worthy Clarke
Girl, with Hands by Chris Verner
Hope by Betty Ellen Walter
How I Out-Memed Madame Meme by Chelsey Crabbe
I touched the ocean bottom by Esha Pillay
I’m Back, More Bad, Than Ever by Ariella Berkowitz
I’m Not the Heroine of Your Cancer Novel by Laura E. Garrard
If the Word for You Is Dyke by Robin Percyz
If You'd Had the Bluest Eyes by Raquel M. Ortiz
In case you didn’t know by Joanne Gram
In the Middle of Nowhere by Rosie Cohan
Instructions for Watching Your Dream House Burn
by Antoinette Villamil
Involution by Jess Fedenia
Laundry by Esther Ra
Let Go by Veronica Barnes
Life for Life by Robert H. Miller
Lilith by Kathryn Boehme
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Sara Engelhard
Little Death by Karen M. Gregory
Lost and Found by Ann Stoney
Love Letter to My Wild Women by Annika Hudson-Laursen
Lumpia and Wild Horses by Jenny Hogan
Meet Me Halfway with Love by Raquel Saenz
Mettle (no clay) by Jacqueline Gryphon
Mice by Katie Urich
Monkey Balls by Connie Corzilius
National Pastime by J.B. Rossi
Not expecting to fly. Flying anyway by Erin Robertson
Old Fool by Sallie Bingham
One Smart Cookie by Kendall Klym
Origin Stories by Annie Barker
Our Fairy Tale by Victoria Castañeda
Phase Change by Ashley Badesch
Portrait of a Raven by Janet Ruth
Queen of Wands by Stephanie Whetstone
Queer by Kimberly Surette
Raven Woman I Am by Laura E. Garrard
Re: My Continued Tardiness by Mary Paulson
Repo Woman by Guihan Larsen
Riot As If Wild by Elizabeth (Lily) Keyes
Say Goodbye to the Boob by Susan Jensen
Scars by Elmaz Abinader
Shapeshifting the Wild by Shari Hemsley
Sling Shot by Melinda Goodman
So What Did Sarah Say? by Betty Ritz Rogers
Song for the black cat outside my mother’s
apartment by Kinsale Drake
Speaking Out! by Soraya Cardenas
still life (talking) by Stephanie Renee Payne
Sundog by Faith Mosley
The Cambium Layer by Elinor Davis
The Daughter of Giants by Esti Andrews
The Dreamer and the Shield by Kelly Burr
The Fires We Feel by Jayce McKinney
The Procedure by Molly Murfee
The Rewilding by Michele Paige
Songs of the Wild by Brooke Chabot
the summer i learned to fly by Aiden Wilhelm
To Kill a Snake by Ana Maria Spagna
Treatise on Capitalism (I Wrote This on Vacation) by Sara Worts
Tuesday Afternoon by Christine Champney Lawrence
Venus, Far Far Away by Anna Leonard
We Keep the Cottage by Joanne Gram
What Endures by Colleen Teasdale Filler
While Your Back Was Turned by Hampton Williams Hofer
Whirligig by Karen K. Ford
Who am i by Anne Brown
Wild Spirits, My Wildflower by Luiza Ruchinhaka
Wild Things by Annie Barker
Wilderness by Jenifer Hemphill
Witch by Ruth Zimmer
Witching Hour by Madison Wempe
Woman by Kathryn Boehme
Written by J. M. Lunte
Yacht Club by Deborah Gerrish
You, Too, Can Breastfeed by Katerina Limenopoulou
You're Gonna Have to Shoot Me by Jan Schmidt
Contest Description
Historian Stephanie Camp wrote, "Women's history does not merely add to what we know; it changes what we know and how we know it." I would add that women's very stories change how we know things. History and the present moment are not just a series of wars and domination—destruction. The creative force, frankly, does not get enough appreciation, and the creative force and the Wild are innate in the Feminine spirit.
We are looking for empowering stories (written by anyone) whose main characters embody the Wild Woman spirit.
We want stories about finding the Wild, reclaiming the Wild, experiencing the Wild, being the Wild, staying Wild. We especially love stories about the ways women use their power to create and shape the world, and stories about discovering—or remembering—this power in the first place.
Stories can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry—as usual, if it tells a story, it fits!
Click here to return to the Guidelines page and to enter.
*****
All around the world, women are stepping forward
to invite back their authentic, creative,
wonderfully unique selves.
We are shedding the old, faded clothes of war,
domination, competition, jealousy, and repression.
We are rising like the sun, shining big and bright as the full moon. We are saying yes to the power of fierce love, compassion, constant authenticity, and vulnerability.
2023 WINNERS
Grand Prize
Life on the Ledge by Amy Soscia
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
Aching for More by Armen Bacon
After Hiker Midnight by Kayla Agnir
Brass by Ingrid L. Taylor
Confession of a Female Bodybuilder by Mia Cara Kinsella
Happy Birthdays to Me! by J. Michele Moll
heart circle by M. Kate Allen
Heat Map by Hannah Hindley
Hips by Laurel Maxwell
Intergenerational by Lila Quinn
Middle Bear by Vanessa Rowan Whitfield
Putting Down a Horse by Marie A. Unini
Provisioning Between Lives by Joanne Gram
Rebecca’s Piano by Diane Allerdyce
River Bottom by Molly Akin
The Body of a Bird by Elise Ball
The Club by Liz Kelner Pozen
The Crows at Countryside by Heather Murray
The Day She Decided to Wear No Clothes by Joanna Zarkadas
The Lunar Light Within by Jess Whetsel
The Protector by Margaret Speck Ogawa
The Wise-Ass Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree by Don Carter
The Witch by Katherine Royce
Unlearning Their Forced Desire for Me to Become
Someone I’m Not by Aurora Bones
Weedologyand the Wild by Sarah Schiff
Wilderness Bride by karla k. morton
2022 WINNERS
Grand Prize
Ashore by Branden Boyer-White
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
Abduction by Tyler Wells Lynch
Anthropologist by Bergita Bugarija
Breaking the Seal by Marianne Leone
Carnage by Soraya Safavid
Confessions of a Skeleton Bride on Día de los Muertos by Stacey R. Forbes
Divorce Slut by Ashley Michelle C.
Elsewhere by A.L. Rowser
Georgia-Carolina Bridge, in a Floor-Length Dress by Amy Richerson
Magic by Janet Ruth
Monarch by Emily Jon Tobias
Nightflight to Venus by Sarah Kontopoulos
Of Lavender and Mint by Phyn Vermin
On the Descent by Vanessa Baehr-Jones
prophecy by Jess Luna
Softly by Mary Pauer
Tattoo Poem by Maria Nazos
The Wife by Charlotte Edsall
Vessels of Light by Sandra L. Meade
Visiting the Queen by Barbara Tylla
What I Took from the River by Anja Semanco
What if We Were Named After What We Bring Each Other? by fenestra
What to Expect When You’re Quite Certain You Don’t Want
to Be Expecting by E. Marla Felcher
Yellow Footprints by Allison Fischer
You—& My Abstract Theory of You by R.J. Keeler
2021 WINNERS
Grand Prize
The Girl Who Visited the Alligator Queen by Couri Johnson
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
A Distant Home by Nan Jackson
A Married Woman Walks into a Bar by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
A Selkie’s Tale by Hannah Yang
Ann, Without by Broderick Eaton
Beyond the Mountains by Mahalia Solages
Bone Memory by Melissa Min
Boxes That Won’t Fit by Heather Anderson
Bruised Ego Trip by Becky Jensen
Dust and Blood by Janet Ruth
Gretel’s Revenge by Sue Storts
Hooves at the Precipice by Jacqueline Sheehan
Inviting Her In by Peter Young
Maintenance by Kristina Van Sant
My Old Kentucky Home by Ellen Pauley Goff
On the Outside, Moving On by Nora Bonner
pretty by Sophia Slattery
Resurrection Mary by Kipling Knox
Saint Iriana, the Cow-Herder by Red Hawk
The Hunt by Anne Morales
The Nature of Her Identity by Jude Rittenhouse
The Obituary I Wish I’d Written by Brooke Herter James
To Auckland by Mellisa Pascale
To Helen and River of AA by Lila Quinn
Too Big For My Britches by Sarah Kotchian
Untethered by Mary Kate Wilcox
Women Arise Now ~ Water to Fire by Genét Bosqué
2020 WINNERS
Grand Prize
Eve: I Did It on Purpose by Melina Vanchieri
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
28 Days by Alyea Pierce
A Well-Cut Coat and Bright Smile by Patricia Schultheis
Choices by Pamela O’Hara
Climbing the (White) Ladder to Success by Leeanne R. Hay
Every Witch a Woman by Natasha Ayaz
Exonerves by Lisa Fransson
Femininity & Pleasure: Observations on Wingfire by Jessica Burdg
Free by Jacqueline Gryphon
Genesis by Yael Hacohen
Hercules by Anil Classen
I Want to Teach Camille by Jessica McDougald
In Love by Vlada Teper
on the day i shaved my head by Kaitlyn Zeran
Phoenix by Thea Swanson
Rewilding by Tracy Rose Stamper
Rice Wine and Blowdarts by Bonnie J. Morris
That Kiss by Sue Staats
The Day I Flew by Mariah Julio
The Renovation by Vanessa Park
Your Daughter Is a Full Moon by Sabrina Strand
2019 WINNERS
Grand Prize
The Missing Jesus by Neta Harris
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
A Lingering Vision by Henry Heitmann
After the Hunt by Gwyndolyn Neuwirth
An April Night by Vanessa Rowan Whitfield
At the Edge of the Earth by Kara Thompson
Bleeding Heart by Kesi Augustine
Bounced from Bunco by Nicole Tichon
Customs by Nancy T. McGlasson
Drama Queen by McKenzie Moser
Headline: Rival Gangs' Mothers Unite for Peace by Juley Harvey
How I Survived a Night with a Serial Killer by A. C. Bosco
How May Cracked Open the Universe by India Choquette
January 1 by Suzanne J Chick
Officer of Adaptation to Climate Change by Dean Gessie
Ornithology by Janet Hilliard-Osborn
Questions by Rachel Weaver
Revival by Kathleen Gerard
Shedding Skin by Erica Tolin
The Girl They Gave to Winter by Tina Blade
Truth or Consequences by Samantha Beaty
Woman Off the Grid by Sandy Lender
Mattie Elese Hunt
Veronica Barnes
Ashley Badesch
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