2026 TWFest Very Short Fiction Finalists
Congratulations to our 2026 Very Short Fiction Winner, Runners-Up, and Finalists!
Thanks to our Very Short Fiction judge, Addie Citchens, and our contest coordinator, Johanna Ziegler.
Pictured above from the top, left to right, our finalists are:
RUNNER-UP: Stacey Balkun is the author of Sweetbitter & co-editor of Fiolet & Wing. Her creative and critical work has appeared in Attached to the Living World, Best New Poets, Mississippi Review, and several other volumes. Stacey holds a PhD in Literature from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, where she was awarded the Holdich Scholar Award, and an MFA in Poetry from Fresno State. She has been granted fellowships and grants from the Modern Language Association, PEN America, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in support of her writing. Stacey lives in New Orleans, where she can often be found in the community garden or making puppets.
Alexander Thomas is an aspiring fiction writer and occasional poet born and raised in New Orleans. Though much of his writing involves science fiction and fantasy, he finds powerful messages in the simple things. His New Year’s resolution: “Finish writing my first book.”
RUNNER-UP: Davan Hamilton is a writer, editor, and serial daydreamer from North Florida, with a background in film studies and perpetual standom. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the California Institute of the Arts and lives within the folds of magical realism, exploring themes of intimacy and embodiment. When she’s not writing, you can find her drowning in a sea of endless hobbies, smothering her cat, or in the clouds.
RUNNER-UP: Ravsten Cottle has published fiction in The Mississippi Review, Arcadia Review, and The Gulf Coast Review. In Canada, he’s published fiction in The Capilano Review and in Dandelion. He was the recipient of an AWP Intro Award, a runner-up for The Mississippi Review Prize for Fiction and runner-up for The Gulf Coast Prize for Fiction, and winner of the Arcadia Review Award for Fiction. He was also longlisted for the O. Henry Awards. Ravsten Cottle has an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Literature and Cultural Studies, both from the University of Arizona. He currently teaches creative writing and cultural studies at Lethbridge Polytechnic in Alberta, Canada.
Sidney Logan Echevarria, a proud North Carolina native, is hard at work on her first novel. She is a 2026 Periplus fellow. In 2025, she received the Epiphany Literary Magazine Fresh Voices Fellowship, and in 2024, she was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. Sidney has published short stories in Bodega Magazine and Minerva Rising’s The Keeping Room and has a forthcoming piece in Epiphany. She has participated in the Yale Writers’ Workshop, Tin House’s Winter Workshop, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Sidney is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. https://sidneylogan.com/
WINNER: Té V. Smith is a Nigerian-American educator and writer. His fiction appears in Tin House, Blavity, The Dillydoun Review, Griffel, and elsewhere. Té is a Rhode Island Writers Colony Fellow, a Disney+ Reimagine Tomorrow Writer in Residence, a Lambda Literary Fellow, and a Tunnel Vision Poetry Prize Awardee. He lectures and facilitates workshops on creative writing, education reform, interfaith studies, and healthy masculinity. Té lives in New Orleans, usually writing, revising, or lost among books.
Jaime Gill is a British-born writer living in Cambodia, where he works and volunteers for nonprofits. He reads, runs, boxes, writes, and occasionally socialises. His stories have recently appeared in Missouri Review, The Forge, Fractured Lit, Trampset, and Hunger Mountain, winning awards including a Bridport Prize, Luminaire Prose Award, and New Millennium Writers Award. He has been a finalist for the Bath Short Story Award, Smokelong Grand Micro, and Oxford Flash Fiction Award and is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He’s currently haphazardly writing a novel, script and yet more short stories. Website: www.jaimegill.com. Newsletter: https://jaimegill.substack.com/
RUNNER-UP: Jessica Carlson is an American writer living in Stuttgart, Germany. She writes essays, short stories, and is currently working on a speculative fiction novel. Originally from Minnesota, she studied literature and writing at Connecticut College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She now works as a communications consultant for nonprofits and associations.
Dana Baylous is a Black Southern writer whose work explores ancestry, survival, and the quiet hauntings of everyday life. She lives and writes in Texas.
Helen Valenta is a Chicago playwright whose work has appeared in many small theatres in the city. Her full-length play, Beautiful Man, was a finalist for the Arch and Bruce Brown Award, which recognizes work on notable gay figures. Her radio play, We Are All Foreigners Here, was on the BBC’s Commended list.
