What We Look For / What We Award for the Lyric Essay
Regarding the 2016 Experimental Essay Award, things which we classified as experimental included:-
- Language. First and foremost, the language should be lyrical, beautiful, surprising, poetic throughout. It should be smart, more than an essay but less than one longform poem. I suppose the question here is: Do we want to read the thing again, and again, and yet again not only for its lyricism and beauty but for its insightful observations and view of the world?
- Pacing. Within a balanced lyric essay there must be pacing, breathing room in the midst of the poetic intensity. This gives the reader a needed break in a longer-form work. In other words, if the author tries too hard, the reading experience becomes an exhausting experience. This is a rather subjective thing, we realize, but the poetic should also be readable, interspersed with grounding narrative.
- Universality. Does the essay speak to a wide audience? Can more than a small slice of readers relate? Similarly, it should be ...
- Family-friendly. Our aesthetic from the beginning has embraced a family-friendly focus. We wish to appeal to readers of all ages. Yet the writing should still be brilliant, not dumbed down or simple.
- Form. A good lyric essay should look like an essay, not a prose poem, though the incorporation of white space and unique breaks is certainly welcome.
- Continuity. However loose or indulgent, a lyric essay should be connected by at least the merest of thought-threads. But obviously, predictability is not a friend to the lyric.
- Opening. If we've learned one thing these past three years, it's that the typical journal editor's job is to read. It becomes easy to skim, especially if the opening isn't as tight and surprising as it can be. Make the opening shimmer against the brightest sky.
- Length. A very short piece is usually better fitted to being called a "short" or even a prose poem, a hybrid, or an experimental piece, and a very long lyric essay is difficult to do well (though with the 2017 issue, we'll seek to award one essayist a prize for a great longform lyric essay). For this year, however, we've especially been impressed with those pieces over 1000 and under 2000 words which have incorporated an essay form and exemplified most if not all of the elements above.
Regarding the 2016 Experimental Essay Award, things which we classified as experimental included:-
- Unique form, such as one long sentence comprising the entire essay
- Unique formatting: dates, diary entries, etc.
- Unique subject matter: non-traditional, inventive, transgressive
- Unique language or word style
