The editors and interns of Blood Orange Review are proud to announce the result of the 2022 Emerging Writers Contest.
Congratulations to Mylo Lam, who won first prize for his poem “Tri Nhan 004 Confesses to Tri Nhan 206 at a Beach,” and to Robin Kinzer, who won second prize for her essay “Onion Grass in February.” Congratulations, too, to all honorable mentions. Winners and honorable mentions will be published in the next issue of Blood Orange Review, which will be published in February 2023.
FIRST PRIZE: Mylo Lam, for his poem “Tri Nhan 004 Confesses to Tri Nhan 206 at a Beach”
Mylo Lam was born in Vietnam and currently lives in Los Angeles. He and his family are refugees from Cambodia. Mylo’s written work has been published or is forthcoming in Barrelhouse, AAWW’s The Margins, MĀNOA Journal, and elsewhere. His multimedia work won Palette Poetry’s Brush & Lyre Prize, and he was a 2019 Sesame Writers’ Room fellow.
SECOND PRIZE: Robin Kinzer, for her essay “Onion Grass in February”
Robin Kinzer is a queer, disabled poet and sometimes memoirist. She was once a communist beaver in a PBS documentary. She previously studied psychology and poetry at Sarah Lawrence and Goucher Colleges, and is now an MFA candidate at University of Baltimore. Robin has poems recently published, or shortly forthcoming in Little Patuxent Review, Wrongdoing Magazine, Gutslut Press, Fifth Wheel Press, Corporeal Lit, Defunkt Magazine, and others. She loves glitter, Ferris wheels, and waterfalls. She also loves radical kindness, vintage fashion, and carnivals. She can be found on Twitter at @RobinAKinzer
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Laur Freymiller, for their story “The Hidebehind”
Laur Freymiller (they/them) is a horror writer originally from small-town Indiana. Their stories have been published in Entropy, Hobart, and Nightmare, and their flash fiction piece “The Bottom of a Well is Also a Home” was selected by Amber Sparks as the winner of the Fractured Lit Monsters Contest. Their short story collection manuscript The Lives of Lonely Monsters was a finalist for the 2021 Spokane Prize in Short Fiction. Laur is currently finishing their MFA at the University of Idaho. They live with their cat named Scout.
Camille Jackson, for her hybrid piece “Homemade Blueberry Breakdown Pie (With Crumble Topping)”
Hailing from the south side of Chicago, Camille Jackson is a 2021 graduate of Loyola University Chicago receiving double Bachelors in Sociology and Film & Digital Media Studies. She aims to make thought-provoking and humorous stories that highlight the beauty and multitudes of Blackness, healing from generational and relationship trauma, and finding joy through it all. She currently lives in Chicago, taking care of her plants, writing scripts, and baking new pie recipes.
m. mick powell, for her poem “thesis: here gender is elusive, if not slippery as silt”
m. mick powell (she/her) is a queer Black femme feminist poet and an Assistant Professor in Residence at the University of Connecticut in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Iterant, Voicemail Poems, Frontier Poetry, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Apogee Journal, and elsewhere. mick’s chapbook, chronicle the body, won Yemassee Journal‘s second Annual Chapbook Contest and was published in March 2019. She’s currently the Art Editor at Stellium Literary Magazine. Keep up with her at www.mickpowellpoet.com or on Instagram @mickmakesmagic.art.
Moni Brar, for her poem “(un)inhabited”
Moni Brar was born in rural India, raised in northern British Columbia, and now lives as a settler on the unceded territories of the Treaty 7 Region (Calgary). Her creative work explores the interrelation of time, place and identity in the immigrant experience, diasporic guilt, and the legacy of trauma resulting from colonization. She believes art contains the possibility of healing.
CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
