2026 Waasnode Fiction Prize Winners Announced!

Congratulations to Crystal Odelle and their story “The Big Show,” winner of the 2026 Waasnode Fiction Prize!

Judge Megan Milks on the winning piece: This story had my heart from the jump with the risks this narrator takes toward friendship and toward her own becoming. I love how complexly the author explores queer friendship between characters who have, and wield, different degrees of social power—as well as the use of foreign language instruction as a tool for coming out. The prose is immediate and fresh, often arrestingly succinct while nimbly combining whimsy with emotional wisdom, hurt with hope: the intensities, the big feelings of adolescence lighting up this story’s coeur, and mine.

Passages North would also like to congratulate our honorable mentions:

“Loggerheads” by Audrey Obuobisa-Darko

“The Conference” by Hannah Kofman

And our finalists:

“Love Doesn’t Hurt, Sex Does” by Jade Boren

“Beautiful Children” by Melissa DaCosta Brown

“Plans” by Haseeb Haider

“Something Knotted Something Green” by Justin Noga

“Zero After Zero” by Daniel Uncapher

“Stairmaster” by Arreshy Young

“Desecration” by Jonathan Bridges

“Small Parts” by Benjamin Gibbons"

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!