July 15th, 2009- WINNERS ANNOUNCED! It took weeks of deliberation, but we have made our final decisions. The work below represents bold, daring, and innovative voices of modern literature, ripe to make a splash. Congratulations to the winners- you've earned it, and you deserve it! Thanks again to everyone, see you next year!
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Fiction Award Chicago Bungalow- Benjamin Tyler Murphy
Best Novel Award Billygoats & Zebras- Lindsay Roch
Best Short Fiction Award Chairman of the Bored- Ramona Gaston
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Playwriting Award Exhibition- Diana Paschal
Best One-Act Play A Certain Stability- Lillian Hooper
Best Full Length Play Drawing Room/Shooting Gallery- Peter McGrath
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Poetry Award Conversations at the Castle Street Pub- Lucas P. Howe
Best Poem (single) Spoiled, Rotten, Forgotten- Sarah Lippman
Best Poetry Collection Recreational Drug Use for Fun & Profit- Georgette Idena
The R.A.I.L. Awards are an annual literary competition dedicated to Recognizing Advancement & Innovation in Literature. Each year we honor the best new voices in Fiction, Playwriting, and Poetry with cash prizes totaling $750:
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Fiction Award ($200 prize) Best Novel Award ($25 prize) Best Short Fiction Award ($25 prize) (7,500 words or less)
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Playwriting Award ($200 prize) Best One-Act Play ($25 prize) Best Full Length Play ($25 prize)
R.A.I.L. Excellence in Poetry Award ($200 prize) Best Poem (single) ($25 prize) Best Poetry Collection ($25 prize)
In addition to showcasing the work of emerging talent, we also bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award and In Honorarium Award to great American writers. For the full list of prizes, click here.
We started the Awards back in 2005 as a rather informal affair- a group of friends in San Francisco who liked to get together and discuss their favorite new writers and poets. Since then, we've widened our circle to include folks from the worlds of academia, independent bookselling, drama, editing, publishing, and literary criticism to assist us in determining each year's winners.
Although we've grown in scope and ambition, we are still a close-knit group of literature lovers who strive to run a fair and transparent competition for all writers- new, emerging, established or otherwise.
Our credo is simple: you will ALWAYS keep all rights to your work, we will ALWAYS give every entry complete, thorough readings, and we will NEVER try to sell you anything. For more info on our Judging Process and Official Rules, please visit our Rules page.
To enter your work into the competition, please visit our Submissions page.
We always welcome input, questions and comments on how to improve the R.A.I.L. Awards, so feel free to get in touch. We'd love to hear from you!
contact (at) railawards (dot) org.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hayden Joseph
Head Honcho Emeritus
R.A.I.L. Awards
