News and updates:

The results are in! Over the next couple days LOA will release the winners and runners up of the four different categories of the 2026 Wright Prize! “Distant Relatives” by Brendan Praniewicz won the Prose by Military Family Member award. Of Praiewicz’s piece Jackie Spinner said, “What makes this piece exceptional is the way the writer finds something much larger than a family Christmas inside what initially feels like a funny, chaotic family story. The voice is confident and distinctive, and the humor never feels separate from the sadness underneath it. Cousin Kenny is outrageous and sometimes hilarious, but the writer gradually reveals the war veteran and caregiver underneath that larger-than-life character. Aunt Marie becomes something even more significant as the keeper of a family history that is disappearing along with her memory. The Christmas dinner is funny, uncomfortable and increasingly poignant, and by the end, the seemingly simple line, “We always have enough,” carries the weight of the entire piece.” In second place, “The Nachzehrer of Belleau Wood” by Bryan Stubbles. And in third place is “In Kosciusko’s Garden, 1992” by Davida Kellogg. Congrats to all of you!