We are thrilled to announce the winners of this, our very first Brattleboro Literary Festival Flash Fiction Contest. GMR is proud to collaborate with this stunning literary festival and sponsor its wildly fun “Flashing Lights” reading event. This year’s contest winner will be invited to the Brattleboro Literary Festival (Oct. 3-6) to read at “Flashing Lights” on October 5th, alongside David Abrams, Pamela Houston, Christine Schutt, Meghan Mayhew Bergman, and Bonnie ZoBell.

Judging this year’s competition alongside the GMR staff were Cynthia Larson, Jodie Paloni, Rebekah Willey, and Bonnie ZoBell. The judges read 428 entries, which, all together, embraced, resisted, and complicated all notions of the flash fiction form. These judges worked long and hard, and ultimately chose the following outstanding writers as this year’s contest winners.
 

Winner:

Kathryn Nuernberger

for “The Saint-Girl’s Sweetest Tortures” and “P. T. Barnum’s Fiji Mermaid Exhibition As I Was Not the Girl I Thought I Was”

 

Kathryn Nuernberger is the author of the poetry collection Rag & Bone (Elixir, 2011). More recent work has appeared in journals including Cincinnati Review, Redivider, West Branch, Prairie Schooner, and on Versedaily.com. She teaches writing and literature at University of Central Missouri, where she also serves as poetry editor for Pleiades.
 
 

Second Place Winner:

Karen Stefano

for “Contradiction”

 

Karen Stefano‘s short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The South Carolina Review, The Santa Fe Literary Review, Tampa Review, Storyglossia, Metazen, and elsewhere. She lives in California and is currently at work on a novel. To learn more about her writing, please visit www.stefanokaren.com.
 
 
 

Third Place Winner:

Dorothy Bendel

for “When I Was an Astronaut”

 

Dorothy Bendel has written stories and poems since she could put pen to paper. Her chapbook, titled Expatriate and inspired by nearly a decade living abroad, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2012. She is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program. She currently resides in Washington, DC where she continues to write and dream of where she may go next.
 
 
 
We are also pleased to announce the following finalists:

Finalists:

         
         “Portraiture of Sleep: In Stages” by Rachael Armstrong
         “Persimmons” by Patrick Bahls
         “Lunch” by Lou Beach
         “Blood Kin” by Celia Bland
         “Center Console Conversation” by Michael Chaney
         “The Story of John, Or Love” by Janey Gibilisco
         “Like Airplanes and Stars” by Dan Gustein
         “How a Perfect Husband Acts” by Ben Hoffman
         “No Good For Digging” by Dustin M. Hoffman
         “Caves of the Rust Belt” by Joe Kapitan
         “Wilderness Champion” by Gina Keicher
         “Little Dancer” by Doug Ramspeck
         “Pink Blood” by Adam Schuitema
         “Restoring the Confederacy Theater” by Kayla Whitaker
         “Violins” by Luke Wiget

Congratulations to our winners and finalists, and thank you to all who entered the contest. This was truly the most enjoyable and lively contest Green Mountains Review has ever been a part of.