TCJ Student guest editor, author, and Minnesota’s poet laureate Gwen Westerman (Cherokee/Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota) has announced the winners of the 2022 TCJ Student creative writing contest. “Despite the pandemic and incredible challenges that TCU students have faced these past few years, we had a near record-breaking number of entries this year,” said Bradley Shreve, editor of the Tribal College Journal. “A big ‘thank you’ to all the students who participated—and to their professors who encouraged them and facilitated the submission process.”

The top fiction entries are: “Crazy Little Deer” by Candice Joy Craig of College of the Muscogee Nation, “Does It Hurt?” by Brandon Bombardier of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and “The Drum” by Kamella Bird-Romero of the Institute of American Indian Arts.

The top nonfiction entries are: “Between the Canyon Walls” by Danelle Jishie of Tohono O’odham Community College, “Pandemic Moon” by Kamella Bird-Romero of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and “Unravel” by Elisa Grossman of Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College.

The top entries in poetry are: “Wiingashk: Body, Mind, and Spirit” by Elisa Grossman of Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, “Belts” by Kamella Bird-Romero of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and “Poetry” by Ronnie Largo of Navajo Technical University.

TCJ Student also recognizes students who earned honorable mention. They include: Edwin Dale Harris of Oglala Lakota College for fiction; Ava Carpentier of Leech Lake Tribal College, Neal Hogan of Aaniiih Nakoda College, Sheryl Kleinsasser of Oglala Lakota College, and Shantel Chee of the Institute of American Indian Arts for nonfiction; and Sareya Taylor of the Institute of American Indian Arts and Ibe Liebenberg of the Institute of American Indian Arts for poetry.

“These entries are as diverse and as beautiful as our peoples.,” says TCJ Student editor Gwen Westerman. “It is a brave act to send their writing out into the world, and I am proud of all these students for sharing the words with us.”

The winning students and those earning honorable mention will be published in the 2022 edition of TCJ Student and/or online at TCJStudent.org. Tribal College Journal extended the deadline to accept submissions to its art and film contest through April 10^th as they partner with Indigeverse.  For contest guidelines and more information, visit: https://tcjstudent.org/contest/