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Last Year's Award:

The judges:
Alma Luz Villanueva, Virgil Suárez, Ilan Stavans, Gary Soto, John Phillip Santos,
Barbara Renaud-González, Juan Felipe Herrera, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Sandra Cisneros

The Sponsors:

Sol Sponsors

Luna Sponsors

Estrella Sponsors MuyBueno.net
Barnes & Noble
Arte Público
Press Archer Books
Wings Press
Curbstone Press
Guadalupe Art Center

The founders:
Isabel Allende, Gary Soto, Celia Zapata and the El Andar Staff

Special thanks to the Prize’s tireless readers:
Consuelo Alba-Speyer, Jose Enríquez, Mauricio Garnica, Rodolfo Nava, James Maughn, Dennis Morton, Linda Serrato and Robert Sward.

And special thanks to El Andar’s Jean-Paul Cane, Prize co-ordinator, who hit the ground running!

2001 Guidelines are now available
Extended deadline: December 31, 2001

Read Last Year's Winners

Hundreds and hundreds of submissions came in, even one from as far as India. The stories and poems reflect many aspects of Latino life from people of varied backgrounds — Dominican, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Mexican, Jewish, Irish, telling stories of families, of friends, enemies, struggles and doubts. Sex, humor and tragedy abound, but mostly humor; a gentle wit shimmers through many of the pieces, the kind of matter-of-fact humor that helps people survive hard times.

Finding the winners was the hard part.

First, we made sure that no names appeared on the pieces — all were coded with numbers. Judges never knew who the authors were. Several readers with experience in each category (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young Writers) read every single submission and culled the top ten in each group — these became our finalists.

The finalists’ pieces were sent to judges across the country, who worked together to choose the winners. The poetry judges were Gary Soto and Gabriella Gutiérrez, who selected Renato Rosaldo’s “El Ángel de la Guarda” for first place and Ina Cumpiano’s “Mouthing Off” for second.

In fiction, Sandra Cisneros and Juan Felipe Herrera chose “Open Eyes” by Jessica Barksdale Inclán and Juan Felipe Herrera selected “The Sky Town Tens” by Darla Beasley for second place.

This year, there was no prize winner in creative nonfiction. But judges Ilan Stavans and John Phillip Santos note that they were both impressed by the quality of the narrative voice used by María Cristina Rangel in “La Reina,” which received an honorable mention, along with “The Translator,” by Ruby Ann Vásquez. The prize money will be rolled over to next year's awards, and we will likely add some new categories such as essays. memoirs and journalism. Your suggestions are welcome!

There were two prize winners and three honorable mentions for the Paula Award, a special prize for young writers created by Isabel Allende. Virgil Suárez chose “The Remains” by San Antonio high school student Sara Inés Calderón and “Cecilia (a bolero)” by fifteen-year-old René Peña-Govea for first and second place.

MIL GRACIAS -- TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

First Place
$1000
El ángel de la guarda
Renato Rosaldo

Second Place
$250
Mouthing Off
Ina Cumpiano

Two Honorable
Mentions
Itinerario para las nostalgias
Delia Cabrera Fernández

After a Reading in Arizona, the Author is Detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Demetria Martínez

First Place
$1000
Open Eyes
Jessica Barksdale Inclán

Second Place
$250
The Sky Town Tens
Darla Beasley

One Honorable
Mention
Confidencias
Mario Ramiro Díaz

First Place $1000
The Remains
Sara Inés Calderón

Second Place $250
Cecilia (a bolero)
René Peña-Govea

Three Honorable
Mentions
Untitled
Christine Téllez

El español: recordando mi cultura
María Sánchez

El anzuelo
Migueltzinta C. Solís