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.

​​—HeatherAsh Amara




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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