The 2026 Myths & Fables Prize Winner and Finalists
We’re thrilled to congratulate Sasha Wade, the winner of Frontier Poetry’s 2026 Myths & Fables Prize! Her poem “In Mary’s Room,” was selected by guest judge Matthew Olzmann as the first place winner.
Our reading team was over-joyed by the reimagining, self mythologizing, and risk taking in this contest’s selections. Your poetry continues to demonstrate the reach and impact of writing that voyages the unexplored edge of what language can do. As always, we are so grateful for the continued support of our submitters, readers, and friends.
Sasha Wade has been awarded the first-place prize of $3,000. Find the full list of our winner and finalists below—we look forward to publishing their work throughout the month of November.
Thank you to all who submitted, it was a pleasure to consider your work.
WINNER
Sasha Wade
“In Mary’s Room”
Sasha Wade, an emerging poet, is currently working on her first book of poetry. Her poem “Del Parto” was recently published in The Academy of American Poets October Poem-a-Day series. Sasha is a winner of Palette Poetry’s 2025 Micro Chapbook Contest. She also won The Baltimore Review’s Winter 2024 Prose Poem Contest. Several of her poems have been shortlisted in the 2024 and 2025 Bridport Poetry Contest. Over the years, her poetry has been published in Rust + Moth, The American Journal of Poetry, The Chestnut Review, and other literary journals. An attendee of The Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Sasha holds an MFA from Bennington’s Writers Seminar.
SECOND PLACE
David Hughes
“How the World Ends in a Suburb”
David I. Hughes is a writer based in Cornwall, UK. His poetry explores memory, displacement and the aftermath of human experience. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction work features in a range of UK, USA and International journals including The Berlin Review, Poetose, Sky Island, Superpresent, Shadowplay, Ink, Sweat & Tears and London Grip. His short stories have been published in a number of anthologies and his work was shortlisted in the Mairtin Crawford prize and Julia and Martin Wilson Prize. He is the winner of the October Project Poetry Prize, the 2026 Streetlight Magazine Poetry Contest, shortlisted in the Fish Poetry Prize, and a LitFox Book Award semi-finalist.
THIRD PLACE
Osmani Ochoa
“The Pillars of Creation”
Osmani R. Ochoa is a queer Mexican-Xicano poet and longtime national organizer for immigrant and worker rights based in Los Angeles, California. Their migrant futurist writing appears in Space & Time, Star*Line, Windward Review, La Raíz Magazine, Stone of Madness, and more. They won the 2025–26 Abode Press Chapbook Prize for ‘How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse’ and are featured in ‘Not Your Papi’s Utopia: Latinx Visions of Radical Hope’ (Mouthfeel Press) and ‘Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow’ (Riot of Roses Press). Ochoa is currently pursuing an MFA at Randolph College.
