Contest and Fellowship Winners

DISQUIET Prize and Luso-American Fellowship winners coming soon!

---

Introducing the Literary Cleveland Fellowship!

DISQUIET is pleased to present a new award for 2026 created in partnership with Literary Cleveland, granting a full scholarship to DISQUIET for one Northeast Ohio writer.

Our first ever Literary Cleveland winner is Melissa Vincel!

Melissa Vincel is a Northeast Ohio writer who uses poetry as memoir. Her favorite fodder — death, dogs, motherhood, and sex — echoes in her work as she explores what makes us show up with humanity in an increasingly non-human world. After nearly two decades balancing caregiving and a freelance career, she has shifted her energy towards hosting community creativity retreats and writing full time. That shift has paved the way for her to attend DISQUIET as the Literary Cleveland Fellow, and she is deeply grateful.

Congratulations, Melissa!

We’re looking forward to announcing our DISQUIET Prize and Luso-American Fellowship winners very soon – hopefully by the end of next week. Stay tuned!