2026 Neutrino Short-Short Prize Winners Announced!

Congratulations to Benjamin Niespodziany and their short “Inside the Inside,” winner of the 2026 Neutrino Short-Short Prize!

Judge Zachary Schomburg on the winning piece: "Inside the Inside" is a tightly-packed ride, a matryoshkic search for meaning as if it hides like a clue in the insides of things. This is prose that knows the propulsive magic of sound. The first lines pull you hopping into the center of the muck with queen, weep and peel as little lily pads. Then each quick sentence overlaps to light up the next: queen, queen, queen, message, message, message, unzip, unzip. The author ushers you down with care, but the narrators are callous and precise—only the dead are dear. Their search is meticulous, and the science of this world is loose. All the ways to open a body! To unzip, to pry, to pull apart. The author of this short has a gift for keeping their distance to let the sadness breathe. But forgive these narrators. They've found nothing! But they can't see it. 

Passages North would also like to congratulate our honorable mentions:

“Sisters” by Michele Lent Hirsch

“Object Theater” by Jonah Radeke

And our finalists:

“Blank Verse” by Rebecca Bernard

“I have an idea I must not let out” by Travis Price

“Hear My Beg” by Solomon Haruna

“The Star of Geneva Harbor” by Soraya Moss

“Here’s where I am at the Pendleton outlet [dropped pin on map]” by Jill Bronfman

“Eulogy” by Katherine Sapadin

“What meanest thou, O sleeper?” by Sophie Klahr

Finally, we’d like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of this year’s contestants. Look for the winning poem in Issue 48 of Passages North! Happy reading!