First Prize, Children’s Poetry
Loris Volkle has stamina. In 60 lines of rhyming verse, Volkle narrates the dawn-to-dusk adventures of a child on Christmas Day. Innocence abounds in Volkle’s tale, but so does strength. The mental strength necessary to keep a coherent momentum going in a long poem — without repeating oneself and while still having fun — is significant.

First Place, Children’s Stories
Nothing is as magical as a child’s imagination. Isabel Rodriguez’ sweet prose allows us to share her vision of fairies, dragons and cinnamon-scented cookies on the eve of the winter solstice.

First Place, teen poetry

Elizabeth Bates pays tender, humorous homage to everyday people, places and things. In paying tribute to the holidays, she cleverly immortalizes summer's forgotten tank tops, the sore throats of Christmas carolers, the wrong forecasts of weathermen. An idea borrowed with a wink from the Sermon on the Mount, Bates' poem does the original justice by inverting our expectations and blessing the many things one takes for granted.
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First Place, teen essays

"Someone has to walk the dog" — and we're glad that it's Sara Hartse, who uses crisp prose, close observation and inventive imagery to take us along on her frigid adventure.

First Place, teens, stories

Could Santa be a genetically modified creature under the control of aliens from outer space? Do presents get delivered on Christmas Eve with the help of time-stopping technology? AJ Burns convinces us all thi — and more — is true as he revisits The Matrix, Roswell style.

First Place, adult essay
Donald Davenport makes fine use of dialogue and biographical detail to bring his friend, "Earl," to life. As we wait for the cider to be "done", we learn much about Earl's life, his opinions on everything from Red Delicious apples (he wouldn't throw them at a dog) to the overdevelopment of the Northern New Mexco countryside. By the end of the story, we found ourselves sharing Davenport's deep respect and affection for his sometimes cantankerous neighbor.
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First Place, Children’s Essays
Sonja Houpt’s recreation of her attendance at a winter solstice concert at the Lensic Theater engages a number of senses: We see the cold night sky, feel the warm air and the crush of the crowd in the auditorium, and share the audience’s impatience as well as hear the sounds of the violins rising from the stage. Bravo, Sonja!

First Place, adult poetry

Through a modern-day trucker's no-nonsense persona, Mike Sutin expertly drives into the field of time. Smoothly picking up meaning and metaphors along the roads of the City of Holy Faith, he carries them to Bethlehem of 2,007 years ago and back again. Along for the trip, we get the sense that we — in whatever vocation we busy ourselves, and however repetitious, long and mundane our daily haul seems — can access a freeway to the same magic and meaning.

First Place, adult stories

Every once in a while our six contest judges unanimously agree on a winning selection — and Charles Greave's well-spun tale is one of those. His pitch-perfect parody of the distinctly American hard-boiled detective genre melds seamslessly with the details of a specifcally Santa Fe Christmas — and the universal themes of peace and joy that underlie this most important of Christian holidays.

Second Place, Children’s Essays
Anothy Adkins’ love of playing in the snow is infectious. Even grown-ups who now cringe at the thought of plowing their way through the white stuff can share his happiness as he makes (and names!) snowmen and gleefully “wrecks the halls” over the Christmas holiday.

Second Place, Children’s Poetry
Like a good baseball game, Jimmy Aranda’s poem hits home runs at surprising moments. Imagining what snowmen do at night, Aranda conjures up great moments of personification and poetic imagination, such as, “They meet at the park/when it’s really dark./Waiting for the others,/drinking cold Coke from their mothers.”

Second Place, Children’s Stories
Micaela Reininga’s rendition of a day in the life of a young woman explores just about all the emotions a teen could experience in short time span — sadness, fear, mystery, discovery and delight — all topped by the joy of a New Year’s Eve celebration with family.

Second Place, teen essays

Malia Byrne offers us a candid look at a New Year's resolution — and the impact it has had on her life over the past year. Original imagery — she spent that year "in a cave of darkness and misery, like my whole life was lived inside a black sweatshirt, zipped all the way up, with the hood on, she tells us — along with her growing awareness of source of that misery — pulls the reader into the writer's process.
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Second Place (tie), teen stories
Ansel Carpenter blends fiction, fantasy and history to create a distinct moment in a universe far from — but not entirely unlike — our own. His hero, Soyal (who bears the name of the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopi) must search within himself to find reason to believe he and his people will survive the frigid weather that engulfs them.
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Second Place (tie), Teen Stories
John Paul Valdez's bittersweet story of the relationship between a father and son indicates an ability to observe the pain of others without judging them. He makes good use of first-person storytelling techniques to bring both characters to life.
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Second Place, adult essay

Louise Diamond uses richly realized dialogue to inject humor and feeling into her remembrance of her grandmother, Bubby — a Jewish immigrant from "the Old Country" — and her family's gradual adaptation to the ways of the Christian majority in the United States. It's the small, telling details and Diamond's affection for them despite their foibles that make both Bubby and the family Diamond marries into memorable.
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Second Place, adult stories

Aging and loneliness can be difficult — and never more so than during the holiday season. As Betsy Burke's protagonist unwraps the ghosts (and sorrows) of Christmases past, she finds comfort in the meaning and rituals of the winter solstice. Close domestic detail mixed with a bit of magic enliven Burke's winning story.
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Third Place, Children’s Essays
A commitment to helping others lights Corrina Leatherwood’s young life — and brings life to her story. Leatherwood makes good use of detail and dialogue to introduce us to her pancakes, family, friends, the people who support her fundraising efforts — and the energetic protagonist herself.

Third Place, Children’s Poetry
A short meditation on winter solstice, Natasha Farmer’s poem evokes the many aspects of winter, from its occurrence as an astronomical event to its mythic explanation and on to its Christian features. The rhymes are executed well and help the poem move rhythmically from beginning to end.

Third Place, Children’s Stories
Chance Willey used his imagination (and some knowledge of history) to create a distinctive time, place and character for his short story. His attention to detail breathes life into this imaginary world, as does his unique take on the imagery of the winter solstice.

Third Place (tie), teen essays

No longer a child and not yet an adult, Sylvia Holland offers us a brave and intimate look at her inner world. As she faces the challenges her growing maturity — she can't stay in Neverland forever, she realizes — she seizes on the possibilities and promises of a new year to propel herself forward.
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Third Place (tie), teen essays

What is Christmas all about? Sledding, and getting to be a kid again, Kiera O'Brien tells us. After sharing her snow-packed experience with her siblings and cousins and peering in at her family's Christmas dinner, we are inclined to agree!
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Third Place, teen stories

A young teen's ability to vividly imagine and empathize with the emotional lives of creatures in the forest that surrounds her informs Elizabeth Turner's short story. The world may not be perfect, Turner tells us, but the love between a parent and child can make up for much that bedevils our lives.

Third Place, adult essay

Drew Bacigalupa uses a present-day visitor to his gallery to reach back into his past, stirring memories of the ending of World War II and how a drinking companion's experience of that event could have altered the other man's life. Lost opportunities aside, Bacigalupa convinces us that "a veteran's a veteran" — with lives more closely linked than not.
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