Blue Ridge Writers
of Central Virginia
Blue Ridge Writers
of central Virginia
News & Events
The 2026 Blue Nib Writers Contest Winners
Congratulations!
Fiction:
1st Place - Ted Rieck, "Pirate's Revenge"
2nd Place - Francesca Flood, "Womb with a View"
3rd Place - Douglas Forness, "Robots"
Judge: Louise Mitchell, has published six fiction and non-fiction books on spiritualism and nature.
Nonfiction:
1st Place - Francesca Flood, "The King of Montenegro"
2nd Place - Dory Hulse, “Rookies Calling Big Game Plays”
3rd Place - Ted Rieck, “Why Does a Dictator Wear a Nametag?”
Judge: Paula Boyland, Writer, Streetlight Magazine
Poetry:
1st Place - Douglas Forness, "The End So Soft and Quiet"
2nd Place - Gwendolyn Poole, “Yesteryear in the Valley”
3rd Place - Lillian Connor, “Intact-Antionette”
Judge: Jay Kauffmann, English Chair, The Miller School of Albemarle County
Previous Blue Nib Winners
The 2025 Blue Nib Writers Contest Winners
Congratulations!
Fiction:
1st Place - Francesca Flood, "Two Lives—One Soul"
2nd Place - Douglas Forness, "The Unlikely Happy Childhood of the Posthumously Published Poet"
3rd Place - Lillian Connor, "The Calm, the Anxious and the Exuberant"
Judge: Louise Mitchell
Nonfiction:
1st Place - Francesca Flood, "Passages"
2nd Place - Diane Hernon Chavis, "Memory Within a Memory"
3rd Place - Lillian Connor, "The Pact: Anna, Margit and Xander"
Judge: Barbara Fuhrman
Poetry:
1st Place - Douglas Forness, "The Hand of the Muse"
2nd Place - Joy Merritt Krystosek, "Nascent Sensation of Indulgent Pleasure"
3rd Place - Al Mirmelstein, "Tsunami"
Judge: Deborah Brooks