D. Slayton Avery and Thea Lewis have been named winners of the 2024 Vermont Writers' Prize, sponsored by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine. Avery won in the poetry category for her poem "At the Fair," and Lewis won in the prose category for her short story "Farm Boy."
Both will receive cash awards of $1,250 and have their work published in the summer issue of Vermont Magazine.
“Every year, the Vermont Writers' Prize entries show us just how passionate people are about the Green Mountain State,” said Joshua Sherman, CEO of Old Mill Road Media and publisher of Vermont Magazine. “We're consistently impressed by the quality of the writing, and this year was no exception.”
“At the Fair” evokes the sights and sounds that are so familiar to Vermonters who visit summer fairs, and it highlights how the simplest things can create deep connections to a place. “Farm Boy” is the story of a Vermonter whose life takes him away from the farm, and Vermont, and the emotional ride of returning home as an adult to the place where you started.