2025 Ray Ventre Memorial Nonfiction Prize Winners Announced!

Congratulations to Naomi Gordon-Loebl and her essay “To Lose It,” winner of the 2025 Ray Ventre Memorial Nonfiction Prize!

Judge Sarah Minor on the winning essay: An intellectual romp that chases down questions of desire by thinking just as hard as it feels, “To Lose It” is laced with crystalline insights diagramming the pleasure of giving up control. Across the piece, Gordon-Loebl takes the essay’s old habit with Mirriam Webster, twists it, and keeps on twisting. What they wring out are gems like the dissociated self, seen as a pair of rowboats floating just side by side, or one body kneeling low before another “drawing his partner along like a kite.”

We’d also like to congratulate our honorable mentions:

“The Notebooks of Everything Will Be Alright” by Shane Neilson

“"Crashbang, a Word Problem" by Molly Bain

And our finalists:

“there’s nothing like a florida sunset” by Jerico Lenk

“It Ain’t Me, Bob” by Elizabeth Abeling

“Blueberry, Sunflowers, & a Porcelain Spoon” by Amanda Galvan Huynh

Finally, we’d like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of this year’s contestants. Look for the winning essay in Issue 47 of Passages North! Happy reading!