Subnivean, SUNY Oswego’s student-staffed digital publication known in 62 countries, has announced the winners of the fifth annual Subnivean Awards, with B. Fulton Jennes winning in the poetry category and Jaime Gill taking the top fiction prize.
Award-winning poet and SUNY Oswego English and creative writing visiting assistant professor Albert Abonado, author of 2024 National Poetry Series selection "A Field Guide for Accidents," served as the final judge in poetry. Fellow English and creative writing faculty member Soma Mei Sheng Frazier -- whose 2024 novel "Off the Books" earned praise from The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Bustle, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and others -- served as the final judge in fiction.
Jennes (pictured first), who has also earned the International Book Award, Lascaux Prize and New Millennium Award, is Poet Laureate Emerita of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
At a virtual awards event attended by guests from New York to Cambodia, Abonado shared why he ultimately selected her work: “These tender, attentive poems navigate the spaces between shame, desire and grief. I am drawn to their bold, compassionate vision, to their vigorous music. The word 'grace' kept returning to me as I read this selection: grace as we account of our losses, grace for the harms we conceal, grace for the difficult choices we confront. Here is poetry that transcends, bridges the gaps of our isolation, and widens our sense of the world.”
Gill (pictured second) is a British-born author whose list of prior accolades includes the prestigious Bridport Prize.
Frazier praised his winning story, saying: “‘The Drinking Game’ may have been written beyond U.S. borders, yet it’s a familiar one that nearly 29 million Americans are losing every day. What’s less familiar is this masterful short story’s gamification: a structural choice emphasizing the sticky traps and slippery loops of alcohol abuse. Albeit punctuated with joy and brilliance, ‘The Drinking Game’ is maddening at best. At not-quite-worst, this game finishes us before we finish it.”
Four other finalists were named in the competition: Neha Rayamajhi and Michael Loyd Gray in fiction, and Madeline Rosales and Sara R. Burnett in poetry. Both judges expressed how difficult it was to judge the awards, due to the quality of 2025 entries.
Frazier added that the general submissions she read for the latest issue — spanning both emerging writers and icons like poet Marge Piercy, whose work was selected for publication — were also “stellar,” and that the staff wished they had the bandwidth to publish more pieces per issue.
This year’s final judges were especially pleased to support the Subnivean Awards due to their close relationship with the publication. Frazier founded the magazine for SUNY Oswego undergraduates to staff in 2020, and has taught the affiliated courses ever since.
That will change this fall, when Abonado steps into the role as a new Subnivean professor and faculty editor.
“I will so miss collaborating with the students and reading fresh literary writing from around the globe,” said Frazier, who will be on sabbatical to edit her forthcoming novel with Macmillan and write a new book, “but it’s time to shake things up, and Al is all set to do just.”
To read the finalists’ and winners’ writing, visit the magazine online.