Betty Gabehart Prizes

Each year the Kentucky Women Writers Conference offers opportunities for both emerging and established voices to be singled out and cheered on by our community. The Betty Gabehart Prize honors our good friend, patron, and former director who led the conference during its seminal decade in the 1980s.

Three prizes are awarded, in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Each winner receives $200, two 2-day passes, and the opportunity to read her winning manuscript at the conference.

> Betty Gabehart Contest Submission Guidelines [PDF]

> Betty Gabehart Prize Entry Form [PDF]

Congratulations to our winners from past years:

2011

• Theresa Dowling of Silver Spring, Maryland, for the short story “To Live Without Air”
• Sara J. Grossman of Somerset, New Jersey, for the poem “Anatomy of a Field”
• Marya Smith of Elizabeth, Illinois, for creative nonfiction, “Straddling Centuries with a Jam Dish”

2010

• PRIZE IN POETRY: "Points of Light" by Joyce Latham of Silver Spring, Maryland.
• PRIZE IN FICTION: "Fast Food" by Elaine Fowler Palencia of Champaign, Illinois
• PRIZE IN NONFICTION "The Call I May Never Make" by Mariam Williams of Louisville, KY.

2009

• Emma Bolden of Georgetown, KY for "Nesting" (nonfiction)
• Lisa Dordal of Nashville, TN for "Commemoration" (poetry)
• Natalie Sypolt of Kingwood, WV for "Ruined Water" (fiction)

2008

• Lisa K. Buchanan of San Francisco, CA for "On the Eve of Departure" (fiction)
• E. Gail Chandler, Shelbyville, Kentucky, for "One Room School" (poetry)
• Kelly Bancroft, Youngstown, Ohio, for "Singer Sewing Machine No. 66" (creative nonfiction)

2007

• Kate Buckley, Laguna Beach, California, for "Dead Horse Trail," (poetry)
• Donna McClanahan, Irvine, Kentucky, for "Blackberries" (creative nonfiction)
• Bev Olert, Paris, Kentucky, for "Unbroken Chain" (fiction)