
Check out our history with our Historian, President Emeritus Toby Fesler Heathcotte.
Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest
The road is waiting, you have merely to take the first step. See where your writing will take you.
The 2026 Arizona Authors Association Literary Magazine is now available!
Please click HERE
Congratulations to our Winners!
Here's the list of winners, folks! Congratulations everyone!
$500 Grand Prize Winner:
Retreat From The Precipice by Duke Southard
Published Category Winners:
$200 First Place:
At What Cost, Silence? by Karen Lynn Klink
$125 Second Place:
Infinite Paradise: Witnessing the Wild by Dianne Ebertt Beeaff
$75 Third Place Three-Way Tie:
Old Dogs by Kip Cassino
The Risk of Sorrow: Intimate Conversations with a Holocaust Survivor by Valerie Foster
Feathered Canyons by Jeannette Hanby
$50 Fourth Place Two-Way Tie:
Hiding for my Life: Being Gay in the Navy by Karen Solt
Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird by Mike Stark
$25 Best of Category Published Fiction Two-Way Tie:
Cut the Tent by Elizabeth Fackler
Finding Zachariah in a Community Garden by Nancy Hicks Marshall
$25 Best of Category Nonfiction Two-Way Tie:
Write the Memoir You're Afraid to Write by Patricia L. Brooks
Tales of a Pet Vet: Stories from the Clinic and House Calls by Dr. Dawn Filos
$25 Best of Category Oldie But Goldie Fiction:
Out Stealing Water by Roxanne Doty
$25 Best of Category Oldie But Goldie Nonfiction Two-Way Tie:
Super Man's Resume: A Beginner's Guide to Resume Writing by Linda Bierwagen
Women Who Push the Limits Presents 50 Life Lessons from Inspiring Women by Lynn W. Murphy
Published Youth Category Winners:
$200 First Place:
Where Nopalitos Grow by Irma Hersel
$125 Second Place Two-Way Tie:
Calvin the Christmas Tree by Stephen G. Bowling
The Weight of Tomorrow by Ranjit Chandra Nair
$75 Third Place:
Big Ears Jack and His Friends by Earl Vincent de Berge
$50 Fourth Place:
Maya and the Turtle by John Stickler and Soma Han
$25 Best of Category Children Under 12:
Lili's Quilt: A Tale of Immigration by Gale Hall
$25 Best of Category Youth 12 -18
Santa by David Swift
$25 Best of Category Oldie But Goldie Youth
Welcome to Harmony by Dan O'Mahoney
Unpublished Category Winners:
$200 First Place:
On the Road Again by Jennifer Wrenn
$125 Second Place:
Cloudy Skies by Lisa Eaton
$75 Third Place:
Shadow and Light by Choi Bi -Gyeol
$50 Fourth Place Two -Way Tie:
Birch Tree: The Tree That Makes Love by Choi Bi -Gyeol
Remembrance by Kate Atwell Herbert
$25 Best of Category Poetry:
Life Lessons of Late by Natalie Hillerson
$25 Best of Category Unpublished Short Fiction:
The Offrenda at the Dealership by Jodie Snyder
$25 Best of Category Unpublished Short Nonfiction:
In the Time of Polio by David Wight
$25 Best of Category Unpublished Novel/Novellas:
Hattie by Rainey Hall
Please join us for the next contest, which opens Jan. 1, 2026
Prizes:
One Grand Prize: $500
Three First Prizes: $200 each
Three Second Prizes: $125 each
Three Third Prizes: $75 each
Three Fourth Prizes: $50 each
Eleven Best of Subcategory: $25 each
All Winners Also Receive Recognition in the 2026
Arizona Literary Magazine and a Free PDF Copy.
Categories:
Unpublished:
Poetry (up to 50 lines)
Short Fiction (5000 words or less)
Short Nonfiction (5000 words or less)
Novels/Novellas/Plays (first 25 pages plus 2-5 page synopsis)
Published:
Fiction: (2024 or 2025 copyright date)
Nonfiction: (2024 or 2025 copyright date)
Oldie but Goldie Fiction: (original copyright after 1974 but before 2024)
Oldie but Goldie Nonfiction (original copyright after 1974 but before 2024)
Youth:
Published Children's Books under 12
Published Teen/YA 12 and over
Oldie but Goldie Youth (all youth 0-18+
with an original copyright after 1974 but before
2024)
Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2025 Arizona Authors Literary Contest!




