New Delta Review is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015-2016 Matt Clark Editors’ Choice Prizes in Fiction and Poetry. Matt Clark, beloved teacher, coordinator of creative writing at Louisiana State University, and a fine short story writer at the start of his career, died of colon cancer at the age of 31. Fascinated by tall tales and urban legends, Matt was in the process of inventing a new kind of Southwest magical realism, part Mark Twain, part Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In his honor, New Delta Review sponsors these prizes.

Our fiction and poetry editors selected the two winners from all pieces published in the journal over the 2015-16 academic year. The Matt Clark Prizes are awarded to works of fiction and poetry that compellingly challenge expectations, narratively or otherwise, and are conscious about the way they use form. While we can’t normally pay our contributors, this is one way we hope to give back. There is no additional fee to be eligible for the award.

This year’s winners are:

Anna Lei for “Thug Mentality” and “I Am Not Famous Anymore” (Spring 2016)
Mike Smith of Albuquerque for “101 Jokes for Epileptic Children” (Fall 2015)

Winners will receive $250 each.