Yemassee is happy to announce that the winners of its 2020 contests have been selected.
As with many organizations, the challenges of a global pandemic meant that difficult decisions needed to be made throughout 2020, as timelines and priorities were constantly in flux, due to changes in our personal and professional lives. We appreciate the patience and support we experience throughout the literary community as we did our best to push forward. Special thanks go out to our judges Samuel Amadon, Eric Puchner, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, & Sarah Gerard for their diligence during such a difficult time. And of course, the biggest thanks to our readers, subscribers, sponsors, collaborators, & contributors–the entire Yemassee family–who continue to afford us the space to produce the journal we love.
Congratulations again to each of these amazing writers!!

Poetry Contest: “double dutch” by Sakinah Hofler
Sakinah Hofler is a fiction writer, poet, and playwright. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Mid-American Review, and elsewhere…

Fiction Contest: “Birthday” by Ashira Shirali
Ashira Shirali is from Gurgaon, India. Her stories have been shortlisted for the H. G. Wells Short Story Competition’s junior prize…

Poetry Chapbook Contest: “Dancing on the Tarmac” by Tarik Dobbs
Tarik Dobbs is an Arab American, queer writer born in Dearborn, MI, USA. Dobbs’s poems appear soon in Poetry Magazine, American Poetry Review, The Poetry Review & the 2020 Best of the Net Anthology…

Fiction Chapbook Contest: “Designs for a Magician’s Tophat” by Andrew Touhy
Andrew R. Touhy is a recipient of the San Francisco Browning Society’s Dramatic Monologue Award and the Fourteen Hills Bambi Holmes Award. Most recently, his story collection, “Secret of Mayo,” was the finalist for the BOA Short Fiction Prize…