StoryStudio Chicago Emerging Writers Award
We’re proud to present the StoryStudio Chicago Emerging Writer Awards. This award recognizes and spotlights talented emerging writers singled out by their graduate programs or by the Luminarts Foundation.
2026 recipients
Dawn Angelicca Barcelona (Northwestern University)
Amanda Norton (Northwestern University)
Suzanne Santos (DePaul University)
Drue Denmon (Luminarts)
Yunkyo Moon Kim (Luminarts)
Being presented with this honor awards recipients the following from StoryStudio Chicago:
- An invitation to the StoryStudio Chicago Emerging Writers Award Ceremony & reading where the recipient will read from from their work.
- Free ticket to the upcoming Pub Crawl: An Online Publishing Intensive
- Free single-session class at StoryStudio Chicago
- One year access to Writers Room
Formerly known as Stories Matter Foundation Master Awards
2019 recipients
Jeremiah Barker (Northwestern University)
Christopher Flynn (DePaul University)
Laura Jok (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Juliana Ravelli (Columbia College Chicago)
Jameka Williams (Northwestern University MFA)
2020 recipients
Min Li Chan (Northwestern University)
Caroline Macon Fleischer (DePaul University)
Adam Rensch (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Deima Thompson (Columbia College Chicago)
Katherine Williams (Northwestern University MFA)
2021 recipients
Abby Vakulskas (DePaul)
Elizabeth Radford (Northwestern)
Jax Connelly (Columbia College)
Katrina Washington (UIC)
Matthew Richardson (Northwestern)
2022 recipients
Michelle go-un Lee (Northwestern University)
Avery Ferin (DePaul University)
Angelica Julia Davila (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Carlos Antonio Piñón (Columbia College Chicago)
M.K. Davis (Northwestern University)
2023 recipients
Eliana Herman (DePaul University)
Jay Yencich (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Morgan Eklund (Northwestern University)
Amelia Dellos (Columbia College Chicago)
Chris Lombardo (Northwestern University)
2024 recipients
Zach Sharp (DePaul University)
Sara Verstynen (Northwestern University)
Mitchell Johnson (Northwestern University)
Travis Mandell (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Abby Schneider (Columbia College
Kabel Mishka Ligot (Luminarts Fellow)
Kelly X. Hui (Luminarts Fellow)
2025 recipients
Maggie Veach (DePaul University)
Jared Spitz (Northwestern University)
N.C. Happe (Northwestern University & Luminarts Fellow)
Chidera Nwume (Columbia College)
Stefania Gomez (Luminarts Fellow)
