Winners of the 2026 Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize
We are pleased to announce that our 2026 Contest Judge, Rachel Yoder, has selected a winner, a runner-up, and two honorable mentions from a slate of finalists for North American Review's 2026 Kurt Vonnegut Prize in Speculative Fiction. A big thank you to everyone who submitted a story for the prize. We had 652 entries this year, our largest contest to date, so the judging process took longer than expected, but we thoroughly enjoyed reading such an abundance of excellent fiction. The Winner will be published in the Summer 2026 issue of North American Review, and all entrants will receive a copy.
Winner
“RetroDate” — Benjamin Hollo
Runner-Up
“Infestation” — Lillis Hendrickson
Honorable Mentions
“The Last Reader” — Greg Foyster
“The Pale Winter Moon Above” — Benjamin Hollo
Finalists
“A Loveliness” — Natasha Ali
“Sacrament” — Kelly Heyen
“Sequenced” — Sammi Chiyao
“Suite 113” — Philip Pearson
“Thaumatology” — Charli Spier
“The Baby” — Amina Washington
“The Man who Misplaced Himself” — Henrick Karoliszyn
Rachel Yoder is the author of Nightbitch (2021), named a best book of the year by Esquire and Vulture and recognized as a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. The novel was adapted for screen in 2024 by writer and director by Marielle Heller, starring Amy Adams.
Formerly the 23/24 Trias Writer-in-Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, she now serves as Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at the University of Iowa.
Her stories and essays have appeared in publications such as Harper’s, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Southern Review, and The Sun. With Mark Polanzak, she is a founding editor of draft: the journal of process and host of The Fail Safe.
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