Winners of the 2025 Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize

We are pleased to announce that our 2025 Contest Judge, Kevin Brockmeier, has selected a winner, a runner-up, and two honorable mentions from a slate of finalists for North American Review's 2025 Kurt Vonnegut Prize in Speculative Fiction. A big thank you to everyone who submitted a story for the prize. We had 634 entries this year, our largest contest to date, and we thoroughly enjoyed reading such an abundance of excellent fiction. The winner will appear in the Summer 2025 issue of North American Review, and all entrants will receive a copy. 

Winner
“Barbara Blue” — Corina Bardoff

Runner-Up
“Dream Home” — Madeline Furlong

Honorable Mentions
“TOF.exe” — Evan Greif
“Agony Acres” — Carolyn Mikulencak

Finalists
“Revise Your Life” — Susan Finch
“So You Think You Can Live” — Michele Zimmerman
“The Night of the Skins” — Anne Wilkins
“What is Seen is Temporary” — Jules Hogan
“Ungebundenheit” — Matthew Flathers
“The Open Prison” — Graham Hubbard
“A Virtual Exodus” — Marcus Spiegel
“Surrogate” — Andrew Barber