Thanks so much to everyone who participated in Iron Pen 2026. We received many terrific entries, and our excellent judges— Kate Wiegele (nonfiction), Dan Woessner (fiction), and Kristen Sneed (poetry), who are last year’s winners in each category—had very difficult decisions to make in their evaluations. We appreciate everyone’s time and talents in making this year’s contest one of the most competitive we’ve ever had.

Without any further ado, here are the winners of the 2026 Iron Pen Contest, by category…