The Creative Writing Program’s Annual Awards

Inprint Joan and Staford Alexander Prize in Fiction and Inprint Verlaine Prize in Poetry
Amount of Prizes: $10,000

• The Inprint Joan and Stanford Alexander Prize in Fiction is funded by a gift to Inprint from the Alexanders’ foundation.
• The Inprint Paul Verlaine Prize in Poetry is in honor of the 19th century poet Paul Verlaine and is funded by a gift to Inprint from Nina and Michael Zilkha.

Inprint Donald Barthelme Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry
Amount of Prizes: $2,500

• The Barthelme Prizes are awarded by Inprint in memory of Donald Barthelme, master fiction writer and teacher, who served on the UH CWP faculty 1980 to 1989, and are funded through Inprint’s annual operating budget. 

Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing for Students with Service to the Houston Literary Community
Amount of Prize: $10,000

• The Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize is given in memory of Marion Barthelme, beloved Inprint and Gulf Coast Board member and champion of emerging and community writers. This prize is funded through donations made in Marion’s honor to Inprint through Friends of Marion Barthelme. The Prize for work in fiction, nonfiction or poetry, is awarded to a student who has demonstrated significant service to Houston’s literary community.

The Academy of American Poets Prize
Amount of Prize: $100 and the winner’s name will appear in a summer issue of American Poet, the Academy’s journal.

Inprint and the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program are pleased to announce the writing prize winners for 2025-2026:

INPRINT JOAN & STANFORD ALEXANDER PRIZE IN FICTION ($10,000)

Preston Witt

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING ($10,000)

Bo Hee Moon

INPRINT PAUL VERLAINE PRIZE IN POETRY ($10,000)

KT Herr

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN FICTION ($2,500 EACH)

Julia Brown & Katerina Ivanov Prado

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZE IN NONFICTION ($2,500)

Kartika Budhwar

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN POETRY ($2,500 EACH)

Julia Guez & Malcolm Mitchell

INPRINT RESTREPO GLOBAL TRANSLATION FELLOWSHIP ($10,000 – $5,000 FOR 2 SUMMERS)

Camilo Roldán (second year)

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME GULF COAST PRIZE ($1,000)

Anthony Sutton

JUDGES

Wayne Miller — Poetry

We are grateful to the Inprint Board and Inprint's funders, whose generosity and vision make these prizes possible on an annual basis. Since 1983, Inprint has awarded more than $3.5 million in Inprint prizes and fellowships to UH CWP students.

2024-2025

INPRINT JOAN & STANFORD ALEXANDER PRIZE IN FICTION ($10,000)

Nick Almeida

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING ($10,000)

Anna Barr

INPRINT PAUL VERLAINE PRIZE IN POETRY ($10,000)

Abigail Mengesha

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN FICTION ($2,500 EACH)

Will Lowder & Leah Fretwell

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZE IN NONFICTION ($2,500)

Catherine Niu

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN POETRY ($2,500 EACH)

Catherine Lu & Kelan Nee

INPRINT RESTREPO GLOBAL TRANSLATION FELLOWSHIP ($10,000 – $5,000 FOR 2 SUMMERS)

Camilo Roldán

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME GULF COAST PRIZE ($1,000)

Kelan Nee

JUDGES

The judges, recruited by the UH CWP, include:

Pam Houston — Fiction

Niki Herd — Poetry

Jessica Wilbanks — Nonfiction

Glenn Shaheen — Marion Barthelme

Esther Allen — Restrepo Global Translation Fellowship

2023-2024

INPRINT JOAN & STANFORD ALEXANDER PRIZE IN FICTION ($10,000)

Elizabeth “Biz” Rasich

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING ($10,000)

Anthony Sutton

INPRINT PAUL VERLAINE PRIZE IN POETRY ($10,000)

Mathew Weitman

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN FICTION ($2,500 EACH)

Reese Lopez & Kelan Nee

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZE IN NONFICTION ($2,500)

Nick Almeida

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN POETRY ($2,500 EACH)

Bevin O’Connor & Jari Bradley

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME GULF COAST PRIZE ($1,000)

Leisa Loan

JUDGES

The judges, recruited by the UH CWP, are all UH alumni and past Inprint Prize Winners:

Gemini Wahhaj — Fiction

Kay Cosgrove — Poetry

Joshua Dewain Foster — Nonfiction

Novuyo Rose Tshuma — Marion Barthelme

2022-2023

INPRINT JOAN & STANFORD ALEXANDER PRIZE IN FICTION

Pritha Bhattacharyya

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING

Adele Elise Williams

INPRINT PAUL VERLAINE PRIZE IN POETRY (FUNDED BY NINA & MICHAEL ZILKHA)

Weijia Pan

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN POETRY

Maha Abdelwahab & Josh English

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN FICTION

Ryan Bollenbach & Stephanie Pushaw

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZE IN NONFICTION

Layla Al-Bedawi

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME GULF COAST PRIZE

Rosa Boshier González

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE AT RICE UNIVERSITY (UNDERGRADUATE)

Anna Rajagopal

2021-2022

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING AT RICE UNIVERSITY

Colton Alstatt

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN FICTION

Pritha Battacharyya & Tayyba Kanwal

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME PRIZE IN CREATIVE WRITING

Aris Brown

INPRINT MARION BARTHELME GULF COAST PRIZE

Emelie Griffin

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZE IN NONFICTION

Dan Kennedy

INPRINT DONALD BARTHELME PRIZES IN POETRY

Blaine Prescott & Adele Williams

INPRINT PAUL VERLAINE PRIZE IN POETRY

Joy Priest

INPRINT JOAN & STANFORD ALEXANDER PRIZE IN FICTION

Madeleine Maillet

JUDGES

Ashley Wurzbacher — Fiction

David Tomas Martinez — Poetry

Allie Rowbottom — Nonfiction

Ian Stansel — Marion Barthelme