It’s a celebration
Lucky Jefferson is excited to announce two 2024 Poetry and Prose contest winners!
Our Poetry Winner
Elizabeth Upshur is a Black Southern writer and guest on Tsalaguwetiyi Land. She is a Fulbright alumna, and serves as poetry co-editor at Okay Donkey Mag, contributing editor at The Seventh Wave, and is the cofounder of The Southern Esesu Endeavor, a virtual thirdspace retreat for Black Diaspora writer.
Enjoy “i do and do not want a rabbit” here.
“i do and do not want a rabbit” embraces the complexities of rabbits in all of its forms—a childhood pet, a good luck symbol, food, the word itself. As the poem expands and contracts down the page, resembling teeth, the rabbit as subject matter becomes a powerful reflection on embodied experience.
— Lisa Low’s remarks on Upshur’s “i do and do not want a rabbit”
Our Prose Winner
Andy Weekes spends probably too much time pottering around in, and writing about, the outdoors. A regular contributor of routes to Country Walking magazine and erratic Substack poster, his default setting involves rucksack, notepad and pen and a wandering imagination, drifting into the realms of English eerie. Social media: substack.com/@andyweekes
Set on an island by the water, “Jetsam” explores the mysterious death of a loved one. The story and its many layers unravel with power and restraint, like the “enormous container ship making its carefully choreographed turn, looking slow and cumbersome, yet already midway through its manouevere, one of delicate precision.
— Lisa Low’s remarks on Weekes’ “Jetsam”
Join us in celebrating our finalists:
Ezra M. Serra
Sean Cho A.
Clara Collins
Courtney Kaye
Nwodo Divine
Michael Beard
Jay Délise
CP Nwankwo
Kamilah Mercedes Valentín Díaz
Tom Nakasako
Andy Weekes
Obi Taswell
Irisa Teng
Abby Hosterman
Donna Tang
Jessi Seohyun Kim
Matthew Johnson
Michael Hardin
Elizabeth Upshur
Kunjana Parashar
Kaila Patterson
Jayce Russell
Kathleen Hellen
Read the work of our finalists in the 365 Collection beginning January 26, 2025
Our Why
Why are we doing this? We believe writers deserve opportunities like this (and so much more) and one core part of our mission includes being the difference. Many contests charge fees to enter or make writers and artists jump through hoops with no real return. We want to change that.
This Year’s Judge
Lisa Low is the author of the chapbook Crown for the Girl Inside (YesYes Books, 2023), winner of the 2020 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared in Copper Nickel, Ecotone, The Massachusetts Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, and elsewhere, and was awarded the 2020 Gulf Coast Nonfiction Prize and a 2023 Pushcart Prize. Originally from Maryland, she lives in Chicago.