Phyllis Grant Zellmer Prize for Fiction 2026
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May 19, 2025

West Trade Review is happy to announce the results of the fifth annual Phyllis Grant Zellmer Prize for Fiction.

Congratulations to each of the writers!



GRAND PRIZE ($1000 & publication in the spring 2027 print edition):   "Inverness" by Laura Schadler


"'Inverness" is a strange beauty of a story that held me in its hypnotic spell from beginning to end. The mystery of who is telling us the story and why unfolds at a perfect, deliberate pace and deftly removes elements of not-knowing, detail by detail, as the narrative world and the true scope of its complexity come into focus one gorgeous sentence at a time. As all great fiction does, 'Inverness' created a living, breathing place I was welcomed into and, by the end, wasn't quite ready to leave. A gorgeous gem of a short story."  --Margaret Malone, Contest Judge 


​Look for Laura's story in the Spring 2027 print edition of West Trade Review.


Laura Schadler grew up in the mountains of Virginia and now lives and writes in California. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Southern Review, The Cincinnati Review, Denver Quarterly, Hypertext, and Aesthetica, among others. A MacDowell Fellow and Ou-telier artist-in-residence, she co-founded and co-edits Nulla, a literary arts journal, and is currently at work on a collection of ghost stories, of which this is one. You can find her on IG @laura.schadler.



​Honorable Mention: "Paper Bones" by Bruce Thierry Cheung


“This lucidly and beautifully told narrative of the forms hope takes in the face of climate change is also—so cleverly—a tale about relating to your mother through online dating. Although its surface is calm, oceanic distances hang below. Here is a graceful and philosophical response to the strange nature of fate in our time. ”
 --Lucy Ives, Contest Judge 

Bruce Thierry Cheung is a writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His debut feature Don't Come Back from the Moon was a New York Times Critics' Pick. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in 34 Orchard, Sextet, and Stone's Throw. Say hi at brucethierry.com.


​Look for Bruce's story in the Spring 2027 print edition of West Trade Review.

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Contest Judge:  Margaret Malone
Margaret Malone is the author of the story collection People Like You, Finalist for the 2016 PEN/Hemingway Award and Winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize. Her work can be found at BOMB, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, Oregon Humanities, and elsewhere. A co-host of the artist and literary gathering SHARE, Margaret lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband filmmaker Brian Padian and their two children. 
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