Variant Literature is excited to announce the winners of our inaugural Variant Lit Poetry Prize as chosen by Todd Dillard! Congratulations to first-place winner Zoe Berger, second-place winner Chiwenite Onyekwelu, and third-place winner Emily Portillo. Each winner will receive a cash prize and their winning poems can be read here, accompanied by a note from our judge. We’ve also included a list of honorable mentions whose work made it to the final round of judging.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their work! We are so grateful you trusted us with your writing. And a special thank-you to our wonderful judge, Todd Dillard!
About Todd Dillard
Todd Dillard’s work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Guernica, Fairy Tale Review, The Adroit Journal, Best New Poets, Waxwing, Poetry Daily and elsewhere. His debut collection Ways We Vanish (Okay Donkey Press) was a finalist for the 2021 Balcones Poetry Award. His chapbook Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance is available from Variant Literature. A finalist for the 2025 AWP Donald Hall Poetry Prize, he lives outside Philadelphia, where he works as an editor and writer.