Annual Poetry & Prose Contest
Since 2017, Puerto del Sol has named one poetry and one prose piece as the winners of our annual contest. Contest winners receive publication in the next Spring issue of Puerto del Sol as well as $750 cash prize, and runner-ups will receive $250. Winning pieces are selected with the help of well-known writers, serving as final judges. Contest submissions are open from March 1st to September 1st each year.
Contest submissions are NOW OPEN and will close August 1, 2025
2025 Judges TBA
LAST YEAR'S JUDGES!
For our eighth annual Puerto Del Sol Poetry & Prose Contest, we are so very pleased to announce our judges;
Diana Khoi Nguyen and Ruben Degollado.
Poet, human, and multimedia artist, Diana Khoi Nguyen was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Ghost Of (2018), a finalist for the National Book Award, and Root Fractures (2024), her second poetry collection which was named as one of LitHub’s Poetry Books to Read in 2024. Her video work has recently been exhibited at the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art. Nguyen is a Kundiman fellow and member of the Vietnamese artist collective, She Who Has No Master(s). She has also received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, is a winner of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest and recipient of the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Nguyen currently teaches in the Randolph College Low-Residency MFA and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. For more information on Dian Khoi Nguyen and her beautiful work click here to be redirected to her official website.
Diana Khoi Nguyen: Poetry Judge
Ruben Degollado: Prose Judge
Rubén Degollado's work has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in Lit Hub, Texas Highways, The Common, as well as within the anthologies Living Beyond Borders and Nepantla Familias. His YA novel, Throw (2019) was the winner of the Texas Institute of Letters 2020 award for Best Young Adult Book, and was included on the Texas Library Association 2020 TAYSHAS list of best books for teen readers. Rubén’s debut literary novel, The Family Izquierdo (2022) was long-listed for the PEN/Faulkner Award, was a Texas Institute of Letters Best Fiction Award finalist, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and selected for Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2022. Rubén has been an educator since 1994, serving as a tutor, teacher, assistant principal, principal, and director of school improvement. For more information on Ruben Degollado and his incredible work click here to be redirected to his official website.
Previous Winners & Judges
2024 POETRY: "Park Fire Minor Arcana" by Matthew Woodman | Judge: Diana Khoi Nguyen PROSE: "163 Tings" by Morgan Christie | Judge: Ruben Degollado 2023 POETRY: "July Fourth Parade" by Tom Laichas | Judge: Wo Chan PROSE: “These and Other Fine Ingredients” by Matthew Pitt | Judge: Amanda Goldblatt 2022 POETRY: "I have never seen a wild poetic loaf of bread" | Judge: Anthony Cody PROSE: "Exoticolalia" | Judge: Kali Fajardo-Anstine 2021 POETRY: "The Stain" by Bernardo Wade | Judge: Todd Dillard PROSE: "Mother's Milk" by Alexa Dodd | Judge: Eileen Pollack 2020 POETRY: "American Sonnet for My Medical History" by Babette Cieskowski | Judge: Rodney Gomez PROSE: "is the watermelon sweet?" by Emily Yang | Judge: Vi Khi Nao 2019 POETRY: "The Room Divider" by Rainie Oet | Judge: Emily Pérez PROSE: "The Misdeeds of the Root" by Bridget Brewer | Judge: Camille Acker 2018 POETRY: “Langauge in Question” by Benjamin Garcia | Judge: Farid Matuk PROSE: “How I Came to Live Here Now” by Sean Alan Cleary | Judge: Danielle Dutton 2017 POETRY: “Cuadrado de Sabzeh” by Natalie De Paz | Judge: Carmen Giménez-Smith PROSE: “The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln” by Shane Kowalski | Judge: Lily Hoang