The 3rd annual Best in Rural Writing Contest as now been completed. The Milk House is grateful to the competition’s judge, Jamie Guiney, our partner The Daily Yonder, our volunteer editors, as well as to the contestants for their provocative, thoughtful and engaging submissions.
Jamie Guiney had selected “The Escapee’s Lover” by Dennis McFadden as the Best Short Story, and “God, Guns, and Baseball” by Lena (Sunada-Matsumura) Newlin for Best Essay. Each were guaranteed $200 in cash prizes. The overall winner will receive a cash prize of $500. The decision of the overall contest winner was shared with the contest judge (1/5 vote), The Milk House staff (1/5 vote), the cosponsor The Daily Yonder (1/5 vote), and by the audience (2/5 vote).
The results are in.
2025 Best in Rural Writing Contest Winner
Congratulations to Dennis McFadden’s “The Escapee’s Lover.” You can listen to “The Escapee’s Lover” below.
Dennis McFadden graduated from Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor’s degree in English. He lived and wrote in a cedar shingled cottage called Summerhill, in the Upstate New York countryside. Among his many works, a short story collection “Jimtown Road”, won the 2016 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction. His novel “Old Grimes is Dead”, was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Indie Books of 2022. His stories have appeared in numerous publications, the Missouri Review, New England Review, The Sewanee Review, The Massachusetts Review, and the Best American Mystery Stories, to name a few. Dennis also served as Literary Judge and guest Editor for Prime Number Magazine’s Short Fiction Award. Dennis produced prolifically, up to the end, succumbing to a decades’ long battle with cancer.