Charles Yu, Shawna Yang Ryan, Alvina Ling Select 2023 Creative Writing Prize Recipients

We are pleased to announce the 2023 cohort of honorable mentions, finalists, and grand prize winners of the Betty L. Yu & Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes, established in partnership with TaiwaneseAmerican.org in honor of Yu’s parents, who are longstanding Taiwanese American community leaders. In its third year, the prize has expanded to include adult writers of all life stages. Their work will be published on TaiwaneseAmerican.org throughout the year.

The Prizes are named in honor of Betty Lin Yu and Jin-Chyuan Yu for their service to the Taiwanese-American community, including establishment of TACL LID Youth Camp in Southern California, co-founding of the South Bay Taiwanese-American School, the first school in the United States specifically for the purpose of Taiwanese Language instruction, establishment of North America Taiwanese Engineering Association, Southern California Chapter (NATEA-SC) and longtime support for other organizations including Formosa Association for Public Affair (FAPA), North America Taiwanese Women Association (NATWA), and Taiwan American Association (TAA).

Read more about the 2022 cohort here: https://www.taiwaneseamerican.org/2022/05/2022-creative-writing-recipients/

After a blind deliberation period, the judges have selected the following:

ADULT CATEGORY

Grand Prize Winner: Grace Hwang Lynch, “Salty Like Tears”

From the judges: “Beautifully paced with well-polished prose that is a pleasure to read.”

Finalists:

Amanda Su, “For When You Were An Octopus”

Joanna Chen Cham, “Obachan”

Honorable Mentions:

Susan L. Lin, “Gravitational Pull”

Nicholas Servedio, “Atlantic Menhaden”

COLLEGE CATEGORY

Grand Prize Winner: Gazelle Chen, “Intergenerational Language Transmission”

From the judges: “Words, ideas and emotion carefully braided together. A thoughtful, deliberate voice comes through.”

Finalist:

Ruth Tsung-Lin Lee (李宗霖), “The First Meal (of Many)”

HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORY

Grand Prize Winner: Tristan Oliver Tang, “Dan Bing”

From the judges: “This well-written, delightful piece is full of detail and color, a small slice of life in Taiwan, thoughtfully and skillfully rendered. A young voice with much promise!”

Finalists:

Jamie Su, “The Taiwanese Experience”

Mackenzie Duan, “5 Poems”

MIDDLE SCHOOL CATEGORY

Grand Prize Winner: YakuzaBaby, “Betelnut, Soldier Wolf”

From the judges: “We found this story to be inventive and evocative with a great voice and sharp writing. It’s such a poignant story about familial bonds, and ultimately a love story which comes full circle in a very satisfying way.”

Finalists:

Yvonne Gillen, “Ramen”

Natalie Chien, “The Glass Butterfly”