Tacenda Awards

2018

2015

BEST BOOK
Origami Heart: Poems by a Woman Doing Life by Erin George

BEST SHORT STORY
“Drown” by Marisa Fein

BEST POEM
“Whispered Through the Plumbing” by Bill Kakenmaster
“Shouts” by Sofia Crutchfield
“I Am Locked” by Leila Khelfaoui

 BEST ESSAY
“Indignity” by Susan Nagelsen & Charles Huckelbury
“Writing Inside” by Kimberly Hricko

 BEST ARTWORK
“A Number” by Jacob Bray
“The ‘G’ Word” by Arianne Schaffer

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Harun Shabazz, Office of the Public Defender, State of Maryland

VICTOR HASSINE MEMORIAL SCHOLARS, COURTESY OF THE HASSINE FAMILY
Emily Dalgo & Daniella Sklarz

 DISTINGUISHED WRITERS AND ARTISTS GUILD
Shirin Karimi (writer) & Rachel Ternes (artist)

2011

BEST BOOK
Painting Czeslawa Kwoka by Lori Schreiner (paintings) & Theresa Senato Edwards (poems)

BEST SHORT STORY
“It Didn’t Matter at All” by Rachel Cupelo & “Do Not Resuscitate” by Courtney Scantling

BEST POEM

“Lethal Rejection, the Poem” by Zoe Orfanos & “Remember Him” by Monica Sok

BEST ARTWORK
“Prison Kite” by Rachel Ternes (drawing) & “Distant Thunder” by Liz Calka (cover)

BEST ESSAY
“Discovering the Body” by Shirin Karimi & “Rhapsody in Red” by Saba Tabriz 

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Gemma Puglisi, for her work on behalf of Troy Davis

VICTOR HASSINE MEMORIAL SCHOLARS, COURTESY OF THE HASSINE FAMILY
Claire Callahan & Carla Mavaddat

DISTINGUISHED WRITERS AND ARTISTS GUILD
Charles Huckelbury & Dennis Sobin, Inaugural Members

2007

LIFE AWARD
Exiled Voices: Portals of Discovery by Susan Nagelsen (New England College Press)

BEST SHORT STORY
“The Flotsam and Jetsam of War” by Randy Lowens (JMWW)

BEST PLAY
The Price is Wrong by Thaïs Miller (Tacenda)

BEST POEM
“First Time” by Erin George (Exiled Voices)
“The Big Day” by Katlyn Miller (Tacenda)

BEST COLLABORATION
Painting Czeslawa Kwoka by Theresa Edwards (verse), Loir Schreiner (art), and Wilhelm Brasse (photographs) (Admit2)

BleakHouse Publishing sponsors several Tacenda Literary Awards for a range of creative enterprises.

Best Poetry Collection

Societal Sins by Diana Roy

Honorable Mention, Poetry

Sonnets from Death Row by Anthony Amsterdam

Honorable Mention, Best Poem

Stand-Up Man by Gary Leeks

Best Essay

Linguistic Solitary Confinement by Meghan Ballard

Best Artwork: Art Collection

Goosebumps and Prunes by Carly Thaw

Victor Hassine Memorial Scholars

(Funding by the Hassine family) Casey Chiappetta & Jacqueline Lantsman

2014

BEST BOOK
Up the River by Chandra Bozelko

BEST SHORT STORY
“A Way Out” by Tatiana Laing
“This Game Ain’t No Game” by Daniel “Vito” Johnson 

BEST POEM
“Natural Habitat” by Alaa Chaker
“I Don’t Need a Mirror” by Melis Cengiz
“Where the Forgotten Wait” by Maggie Brennan
“The Duty of Leaving Imprints” by Anthony Winn
“Crocus” by Alfred Dearing

BEST ESSAY
“The Elephant in the Room” by Casey Chiappetta

BEST ARTWORK
“20th Century Death Penalty” by Joanne Conelley (painting)

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

VICTOR HASSINE MEMORIAL SCHOLARS, COURTESY OF THE HASSINE FAMILY
Tatiana Laing & Alexa Marie Kelly

DISTINGUISHED WRITERS AND ARTISTS GUILD
Shirin Karimi (writer) & Rachel Ternes (artist)

BLEAKHOUSE FELLOW 
Tatiana Laing

2010

BEST BOOK
Enclosures by Shirin Karimi

BEST SHORT STORY
“Ariadne” by Hannah Herbert

BEST PLAY
Stage Adaptations of “Empty Cell Windows” and “Cell Buddy” by Ellen Kaplan

BEST POEM
“An Offender in the Age of Innocence” by Zachary Faden

BEST ARTWORK
Cover Art and Design for Enclosures by Liz Calka
“July in Istanbul” by Carla Mavaddat

BEST COLLABORATION
“A Last Look” by Lori Schreiner & Theresa Senato Edwards

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Dennis Sobin for his work with the Safe Streets Arts Foundation 

VICTOR HASSINE MEMORIAL SCHOLARS, COURTESY OF THE HASSINE FAMILY
Shirin Karimi & Chris Miller

2006

BEST SHORT STORY
“Jacob’s Story: An Existential Diary” by Jacob Winship (Tacenda)

BEST PLAY
The House by Laura Goodwin (Tacenda)

BEST POEM
“Boy Kills Cat” by Madeline Gitomer (Tacenda)
“Monday Night Prison Raid” by Aaron Loewenberg (Tacenda)

Best Short Story

The Discarded Ragdoll by Anna Hassanyeh

Best Poem

One Solution by Yemane Charles

Honorable Mention, Best Essay

Harsh Justice: A Reflection by Isabella Sims

Best Artwork: Photo Collection

Everything Haitian by Steven Baboun

BleakHouse Fellow

Casey Chiappetta

2012

BEST BOOK
Distant Thunder by Charles Huckelbury

BEST SHORT STORY
“Why the Corrida” by Claire Callahan “Purple” by Zoe Orfanos
Honorable Mention: “Floral Avenue” by Tony Malinauskas

BEST POEM
“Home” by Sarah Bousquet & “Accommodations”” by Cienna Breen
Honorable Mention: “Too little, Too late” by Joanna Heaney

BEST PLAY
“Cell Buddy: The Play”
Stage adaptation by Jordyn Cahill & Ellen W. Kaplan
Read at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Ellen W. Kaplan

BEST ARTWORK
“Up” by Liz Calka (poster) & “Life” by Michael Ballard (drawing)
Honorable Mention: “Still Life on Gurney” by Carla Mavaddat (photo collage)

BEST ESSAY
“Violent Crime and Emergency Medicine” by Saba Tabriz

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Talila Lewis, Founder of HEARD
Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf

VICTOR HASSINE MEMORIAL SCHOLARS, COURTESY OF THE HASSINE FAMILY
Charles Huckelbury & Rachel Ternes

DISTINGUISHED WRITERS AND ARTISTS GUILD
Susan Nagelsen (writer) & Amy Hendrick (artist)

2008

LIFE AWARD
Tales From The Purple Penguin by Charles Huckelbury (BleakHouse)

BEST SHORT STORY
“Carpool Buddy” by Thaïs Miller (BleakHouse Review)
“His Last Words” by Kellee Fitzgerald (BleakHouse Review)

BEST PLAY
Peakzone by John “Divine G” Whitfield (Exiled Voices)

BEST POEM
“Execution Man” by Rachel Cupelo (Tacenda Literary Magazine)
“empty spaces” by Sonia Tabriz (BleakHouse Review)

BEST ARTWORK
Ambition, a photograph by Liz Calka
Cover Art by Sara Rubenson (for Tales From The Purple Penguin) 

BEST COLLABORATION
“The Prison Librarian” by Sonia Tabriz and Victor Hassine (A BleakHouse Chapbook)

SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AWARD
Ava Christine Page, for her work with Justice Not Jails