I am pleased to announce that the 2025 LAURA Short Fiction Award Finalists are—listed in no particular order—
“The Gamble” by Pam Schlichenmayer
“The Homeplace” by Michelle Ferrer
“William’s Cup” by Betsy Randolph
“Forest Dark” by Bonnie Hobbs
A determination of first, second, and third placements has been made by our Final Judge Kate McCusker. These will be announced at the 2025 Women Writing the West Virtual Conference October 17th. I hope to see you there as we share the final placements.
I would like to thank all Women Writing the West members who submitted their short fiction stories to the 2025 LAURA Short Fiction Award. WWW received twelve original submissions this year, all of which demonstrated a high caliber of outstanding short fiction.
We appreciate our screeners, who did not know the identity of any author, and who screened according to the LAURA rubric found on the WWW website. Additionally, no screener knew who else was selected to screen, and they themselves will remain anonymous. If you were a screener and you are reading this, THANK YOU—The LAURA Award depends on members like you who are willing to support the efforts of fellow members.
Congratulations to our 2025 LAURA Short Fiction Award Finalists!
Suzi Minor
LAURA Short Fiction Award Chair
President-Elect | Women Writing the West
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