We’re pleased to announce the finalists and semi-finalists for the Fall 2025 Black River Chapbook Competition! We’ve narrowed it down to 10 finalists and 12 semifinalists, which was not easy! We received many compelling manuscripts, and we deeply appreciate every one of you. Thank you for trusting us with your work, and thank you to the BRCC editorial team for your time & care.
An editorial panel consisting of BLP editors and judges (BLP chapbook authors, including previous BRCC winners) read each entry without identifying information. Every entry was kept anonymous until today, so we can unveil the lists to you!
To all the semifinalists, congratulations & thank you!
We will announce the winner from among our list of finalists shortly.
FINALISTS
Weathering Pen by Laura Amsel – poetry
The Last Summer by Mark Brazaitis – prose
Before the Canopy Closes by Dana Brewer Harris – prose
American Inheritance by Craig M. Foster – prose
Neon Babylon by Earl David Freeland – poetry
A Difficult Dirt by Lee Gallaway-Mitchell – poetry
Anomie by Ken Holland – poetry
Witness Protection by Romana Iorga – poetry
Allegiance by Stacy Jackson – poetry
I’d Kill to be Held Like That by Shenandoah Sowash – poetry
SEMIFINALISTS
Good Friends by Alex Crowley – poetry
Body Acoustic by Emma DePanise – poetry
The Gift of Loitering by Stephen Hitchcock – poetry
Everything in My Life Up Till Now by Andrea Lewis – prose
the shape of a wail is asymptotic by Elisávet Makridis – poetry
Not Enough Circles by Charles Malone – poetry
Artichoke by Steve Petkus – poetry
Shibboleth by Amanda Quaid – poetry
Needlework by Dana Sonnenschein – poetry
Last Nights in the Lost House by Randolph Thomas – prose
Pale Sleep by Jill Widner – prose
your daughter Margrét by Melissa Wold – poetry