Tomorrow we announce the winner! Here are all 10 essays in case you have an office pool or Fantasy Writers League going . . . congratulations again to these outstanding essayists.

Neema Avashia (Boston), A Hindu Hillbilly Elegy
Rochelle Harris Cox (Northwest GA), North Georgia Gothic
Dorian Fox (Boston), The Fence
Jenna Korsmo (Tuscon), Sister-Cats
Jessica Langlois (Atlanta), Ways to Die in Alabama
Elizabeth Lantz (Columbus), The Imaginary Writer
Mary J. Mahoney (New York), Suburbs Plagued by Foraging Deer
Elizabeth Muller (New Jersey), The Revival of the Fittest
Laura Stanfill (Portland OR), Birdsong in the Key of Brain Injury
Lisa López Smith (Central Mexico), Turning 37

I give thanks for baptism in symbol.
The deep blue covering every need—
watery armor against despair—
praise the groundswell of heartbeat.

Word incarnate, Word divine,
holy place of print,
create in me,
break me.

from “Keep the Feast” by Anne Clinard Barnhill, a poem in Coal, Baby