Wild Women Story Contest
(Spring/Summer issue)

Deadline: March 8 (International Women's Day)
Release (UPDATED): May 24​

2026 Grand Prize winner

Fallout by Jill Logan

2026 honorable mentions/contributors

15 by Layne Morsberger
A Modest Marriage Proposal by Piper Huguley
A Smack of Jellyfish by Amy Branson
Absolutely Angry Black Woman by Ọlaọcha Nwadiuto Nwabara
Coffee Break by Mary Arguelles
Eclipse by Gaea Bailey
Edge of Elegy by Jenna A. Smith
Everybody’s Got Their Burdens by Shanteé Felix
Fiddler (Ocypode quadrata) by Kiersten Hackman
Genesis: In the Beginning Was the Garden of
Goddess and Gorgon by Naomi Mac Millan
Hair. See. Me. by Shirlene Evans Bridgewater
I Am That Girl by Amy Lyn
Lot’s Wife, Apocrypha by Janna Urschel
Mother of All the Living by Gabrielle Lang
Pig Killing by Sally K Lehman
ricotta cheese by Tara Zafft
Self-Portrait, Unframed by Ira Batra Garde
Sophia by Kimberly Kling
Take Me by Bonnie Ratner
The Willow by Katie Lee Swaim
These Foolish Things by David Collins
To Mom from Her CODA Son by R. H. Miller
To my hippie boyfriend from 1971 after he reminded me that I
slept with his best friend by Jan Worth
To the men who wish we were more casual by Hillary Frances
Well-Rounded Women by Dawn Raftery
What Survives a Promise by Taylor McHugh
Where the Wild Begins Again by Dejah-Thoris Waite

2026 Semifinalists

15 by Layne Morsberger
A Bed for Two by Holly Starley
A Compliment, Apparently by Rilye Alexandra Fries
A Girl’s Guide to Grace by Doug Lane
A Modest Marriage Proposal by Piper Huguley
A Singular Vulnerability by Dipika Mukherjee
A Smack of Jellyfish by Amy Branson
A True Account of Talking to a Tree from My Bedroom Window by Maria Massei-Rosato
A Whimper or a Bang by Susan Lott
Absolutely Angry Black Woman by Ọlaọcha Nwadiuto Nwabara
Activist by Brian Donnell James
American Lonely by Alison Townsend
An Ode to Diane by Teddy Lecornu 
Ars Poetica by Thena Westfall
At Sea by Meryl Stratford
Cayenne Feather by Robin Rae
Coffee Break by Mary Arguelles
Come, my friends, ’tis not too late to find another world by Marcy Rae Henry
Coming Storms by Jude Rittenhouse 
Confessions by Janet Marstine
Crepe Myrtle by MJ Simmering
Crone, Corona, Crown: Reclamation by Bonnie Ratner
Dandelions by Anne Cognato
Danny, Me, and Clint Eastwood by Ann Voorhees Baker
Dig by Kathy Lenney
Dogmoon (Phases) by Holly Marie Moore 
Eclipse by Gaea Bailey
Edge of Elegy by Jenna A. Smith 
Entrails of a Letter the 23-Year-Old Me Wrote and Should Have Mailed to the One-Night Stand That Lasted Six Months Who Said He Wanted Me to Have His Baby Instead of Emailing It to Him When He Was Almost 81 by Jocelyn Ruth Kaye
Ethereal Blueprint by Karen Bennett
Everybody’s Got Their Burdens by Shanteé Felix
EZ Pass by Debbie Benson
Fallout by Jill Logan
Fiddler (Ocypode quadrata) by Kiersten Hackman
Fierce Fiery Motherhood by Kristin Bonser
First Flight by Maria Massei-Rosato
Genesis: In the Beginning Was the Garden of Goddess and Gorgon by Naomi Mac Millan
The Wildest Million Dollar Voice from the Nobel Literature Stage by Pam Fox
Greeting the Visitors by Kathryn Jordan
Hair. See. Me. by Shirlene Evans Bridgewater 
Hanna by Pamela Redcliff
Healing by Veronica Bernacchi
Hiking San Pedro in Guatemala by Jacqueline Sheehan
Hitchhiking by Rafaella Del Bourgo
Hunger by Carol Graf Snyder
Hunter’s Moon, 1753 by Maryanne Moon Boyen 
Hypothermia. by Yuting Grace Gong
I Am That Girl by Amy Lyn
Incorrigible Women by Shaheen Dil
Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend by Dewaine Farria
Introduction by Shakti Io Anderson
La Gioconda by Deborah L. Levine
La La La by Nika Cavat
Ladybug by Madalyn L. Rockwell
Lot’s Wife, Apocrypha by Janna Urschel
Mama, and the Number One Jig-a-Jig Scandal by Warren Blake
Maternity Leave by Ira Batra Garde
Mother of All the Living by Gabrielle Lang
My Angry, Hard, Workhorse Hope by Mikaela Dunitz
My New York Experience by Theresa Wanta
My Wild Woman Challenge by Libby Kowalski
New Tricks for the Oldest Trick in the Book by Raziela Orlinat 
No One’s Standard Beauty by Claire Frankel
Off the Meds by Gabrielle Lang
Peska by Ashley Berry
Pig Killing by Sally K Lehman
Progression in Three Parts by Joanne Gram
Queen of the Jewish Pirates by Neil Weiner
Radiant Dream by Alitsa Setian
Redemption, Eighth Grade by Mercer Warriner
ricotta cheese by Tara Zafft
Rights and Leftists by Claire Jolley
Second Chance at Desire by Susan Reid
Self Portrait at Synaptic Junction by Jenna A. Smith 
Self-Portrait, Unframed by Ira Batra Garde
Shall We Not Revenge? by Jolene Whitten
Small Talk: Variations on a Theme by Jane Rothschild
Snort-Laughing with My Friends by Christy Schwan
Something Primal by Faye Srala
Sophia by Kimberly Kling
Soul Level Real Estate by Alyssa Miller 
Take Me by Bonnie Ratner
Tamazunchale by Bob Ross
Tell Me About Despair by Janet Ruth
The Art of Receptivity by Jennifer Miller
The Bowl That Belonged to My Mother’s Mother by Mack Karbon
The Brave Woman by Sally Cobau
The Girl I Leave Behind by Rilye Alexandra Fries
The Light of the Dark, Black Night by Mallory Decker
The Remembering by Mary Allison
The Stepmother’s Defense by P. Jo Anne Burgh
The Weight I Put Down by Morgan Price
The Wild Heart That Wins Out by Hannah Eubank
The Willow by Katie Lee Swaim
The Women the World Fears by Kate Barden
These Foolish Things by David Collins
To Mom from Her CODA Son by R. H. Miller
To my hippie boyfriend from 1971 after he reminded me that I slept with his best friend
by Jan Worth
To the men who wish we were more casual by Hillary Frances
Well-Rounded Women by Dawn Raftery
What I Had in Me by Charles Grosel
What Survives a Promise by Taylor McHugh
What Wild Women Really Want by Lisa Reidy Harter 
Where the Wild Begins Again by Dejah-Thoris Waite
Wisdom of the Old by Eman A.E.
Year of the Snake by Megan Jade Mock Noble

This contest is based on the radical idea that history and the present moment are not (cannot be) just a series of wars and domination—destruction.

The creative life force carried forward through the millennia, 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.
—HeatherAsh Amara

PAST WINNERS

2025
Grand Prize
Rainbow Sprinkles by Allyson Petrek
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
1/21/2025 by Izzy Forrest
Cedar Woman by Alexis Bonavitacola
Confessions of a Free Woman by Carla Vianna 
Dinosaur Rock by Marsh Rose
​Feed her by Jenna Smith​
For the Birds by Emily France
In Another Life—a Dream Tied to a Mesquite Tree by Mary Ann Burrows
​​Into the Blue by Shakira Croce
Moose by Nancy L. Davis
​​​Ode to Helene, October 2024 by Barbara Roether
Ode to the Starving Body by Sophie H. Lajnef
​Paperbacks by Courtney Hanks
Postcards from New Hampshire by Anneke Bender
Rainforest Fermata by Ayla Gard
Satisfying a Woman by Jennifer Schollars
Second Career by Noel Plennert Poston
Sneaking Around by Erin DiCamillo​​​​
Survival by Haya ​Pomrenze
Swimmer by Barry Fields
​​​Tarantulas in the Pumphouse by Linda Caradine
​Woman of the house by Julia Burke
​Yesterday’s News by Amy Haddad

​2024
Grand Prize
​Our Fairy Tale by Victoria Castañeda
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

2023
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 
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
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 
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
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