The editors of Sweet are so pleased to announce the winner for 2025 Karen Kao Creative Nonfiction Flash Essay contest.
Winner
Kimberly Kearns for “The Cry That Carries”
“The Cry That Carries” weaves together sound and silence, a reminder that one cannot exist without the other. Here metaphor grows and grows, becomes the loud “cry” of the essay, that siren call of need, yet the silence of addiction echoes with haunting resolve. In such a short space, Kimberly Kearns’s essay reverberates outwards, shivers in a stilled body of water, a reminder that sometimes we don’t hear those things that tether us to the world.
-Ira Sukrungruang
Finalists
Mara Delmar “The Experiment”
Robbie Gamble “Rhythm”
Carole Greenfield “Take Cover Now”
Christopher Notarnicola “Grief and Gold Teeth”
JJ Pena “violence of truth” “give her back” and “aftersplash”
Congratulations to these fine writers and we hope you are looking forward to reading these pieces soon on sweetlit.org!
