This anthology collects the nine winners of the 2021 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First-place winner: Greg Jaffe and his three-part series on the pandemic, beginning with “The Pandemic Hit and This Car Became Home for a Family of Four” (
The Washington Post
). Second place: Hannah Dreier with “The Worst-Case Scenario” (
). Third place: Leonora LaPeter Anton, Kavitha Surana, and Kathryn Varn with “Death at Freedom Square” (
Tampa Bay Times
).
Runners-up include Rory Linnane, “Maricella’s Last Breath” (
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
); Hannah Dreier, “Tatiana’s Luck” (
); Deborah Vankin, “This 81-Year-Old was L.A.’s Most Devoted Museum-Goer until COVID-19” (
Los Angeles Times
); Lauren Caruba, “Night Shift” (
San Antonio Express News
); Mark Johnson, “Saving Raynah’s Brain” (
); and John Woodrow Cox, “They Depended on Their Parents for Everything” (