We apologize for the delay in announcing the winners of this contest. While notifying the winners, we learned that our winner, Karen Kao passed away on March 16th. Karen was also a contributor to Sweet in the past. We are deeply saddened by the news. We have been in communication with her family, and the editors of Sweet would like to honor Karen with more than just the contest. Starting next year, the contest will be known as the Karen Kao Creative Nonfiction Flash Essay Prize. Plans are being made for more ways that we will be recognizing and memorializing this amazingly Sweet writer, so stay tuned.
The editors of Sweet are so pleased to announce the winner for 2024 Creative Nonfiction Flash Essay contest. Many thanks to Jill Christman, Editor of River Teeth and just an all around amazingly sweet human being, for judging our contest!
Winner
Karen Kao for “And Before That”
“And Before That” is the story of how we experience the world through our bodies, in sickness and health, and a shifting market of foods, expectations, and appetites. Some version of each of us has been that solitary child standing on a chair to prepare the instant mashed potatoes to sate a gnawing desire to be full and seen and loved. “And Before That” feeds a shared desire to be less alone in our hunger.
-Jill Christman
Honorable Mentions
Natasha Moni for “I’m Sorry I Accidentally Super Liked You on Bumble, but Now That I Have Your Attention When Does a Hill Become a Mountain?”
“I’m Sorry I Accidentally Super Liked You on Bumble. . .”: There’s something so compelling about the way in which this essay takes us through the busy mind, trying to live a life with constant access to the internet, and the way we’ve been invaded. It’s weird and wonderful and in the moment when we imagine the possibility of the ewe making “whatever command necessary to reset the peat neatly over [their] trapped body,” well: this makes the most perfect sense.
-Jill Christman
Congratulations to these fine writers and we hope you are looking forward to reading these pieces soon on sweetlit.org!
