The New England Review Award for Emerging Writers builds on the strengths of two of Middlebury College’s literary institutions. Both New England Review (NER) and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences (BLWC) impact emerging writers’ lives and, in doing so, help sustain a vibrant literary culture.
What it is:
The NER Award for Emerging Writers provides a full scholarship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for an emerging writer* in any genre. This annual award, which is bestowed upon a writer who offers an unusual and compelling new voice and who has been published by NER, is selected by the NER editorial staff and the BLWC director.
How it came about:
This annual award is made possible by the Stephen Donadio Fund for Emerging Writers, established in 2014 by a private benefactor in honor of Stephen Donadio, NER editor for twenty years and former Fulton Professor of Humanities and Director of the Literary Studies program at Middlebury College. Proceeds from this endowment will support NER’s ongoing commitment to identify and publish gifted emerging writers, and will fund a full scholarship to the Writers’ Conference each August, named the Stephen Donadio Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Scholarship.
How it works:
Each year in January or February, NER’s editorial staff will select and announce a short list of finalists from all emerging writers published the previous year. Later that quarter the editor of NER and director of the BLWC will choose a winner from those eligible finalists. The Stephen Donadio Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Scholarship will cover tuition, room, and board at the Conference.
* Writers who have not published a book or full-length collection, and do not have a book under contract, are considered emerging writers. All emerging writers who have been published in NER over the course of the year and who are available to attend the Conference the following August (and who are not previous Bread Loaf Scholarship recipients) are eligible for the NER Award for Emerging Writers.
2025
Winner: Laura Schmitt
Finalists: Temperance Aghamohammadi, Cristina Alexandra Pop, Zen Ren, Nathan Curtis Roberts, Laura Schmitt, Tianyi
2024
Winner: Annie Wenstrup
Finalists: Andy Chen, Emily Crossen, Daniel Abiva Hunt, Angie Romines, Gurmeet Singh, Annie Wenstrup
2023
Winner: Kosiso Ugwueze
Finalists: Heidi Bell, TR Brady, Min Li Chan, Iris A. Law, Rob Franklin, Kosiso Ugwueze
2022
Winner: Helene Achanzar
Finalists: Helene Achanzar, Jung Hae Chae, Emelie Griffin, Scott Broker, G. K. Heart, Marguerite W. Sullivan
2021
Winner: Justin Danzy
Finalists: Su Cho, Justin Danzy, Lydia Paar, Kate Petersen, Laura Schmitt, Samyak Shertok
2020
Winner: Leslie Bazzett
Finalists: Leslie Bazzett, Cassandra J. Bruner, Ina Cariño, Anne Kiu Kellor, Emily Pittinos, D. J. Thielke
2019
Winner: Jennifer Stock
Finalists: Benjamin Garcia, Raven Leilani, Supritha Rajan, Douglas Silver, Jennifer Stock, Cady Vishniac
2018
Winner: Devon Walker-Figueroa
Finalists: Maxim Matusevich, Celeste Mohammed, Hannah Rahimi, Devon Walker-Figueroa, Molly Spencer, Barrett Swanson
2017
Winner: Alan Rossi
Finalists: Alex McElroy, Alan Rossi, Amy Meng, Genevieve Plunkett, Christine Robbins, Kate Petersen
2016
Winner: Hai-Dang Phan
Finalists: Kelly Grey Carlisle, Francine Conley, Lisa Taddeo, Rav Grewal-Kök, Hai-Dang Phan, Vincent Poturica
2015
Winner: Ricardo Nuila
Finalists: Leslie Bazzett, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, William Fargason, Ricardo Nuila