2025 Page Prize in Nonfiction

We’re thrilled to announce the results of the 2025 Page Prize in Creative Nonfiction, judged by Annabelle Tometich!

1st Place: “oats & nuts” by Slater by the Sea

“I found myself coming back to this piece often. The more I read and reread it, the more I fell in love. The writer gulps you into a moment, a singular thought. They stick you there, binding you to the tumult, the chaos, the tense jealousy. And then, as effortlessly as they pulled you in, they release you. And all that tension somehow, beautifully, yields hope.”

2nd Place: “Mother”

“I loved the clarity of voice in this piece. Stunning similes and metaphors! This feels like it could be the start of something more.”

3rd Place: “Smudge”

“I cherish Florida stories, and this one is dangerously yet exquisitely sweet.”

Annabelle Tometich went from medical-school reject to line cook to journalist to author. She spent 18 years as a food writer and restaurant critic for The News-Press in her hometown of Fort Myers, Florida. Her first book, “The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony” (Little, Brown; April 2024) was called “sweet, sharp” by The New York Times, and was named among the best books of 2024 by The Washington Post and NPR. 

Tometich has written for The Washington Post, USA Today, Catapult, and many more outlets. In 2025, she became the first Filipino American author to win the Southern Book Prize for nonfiction, in addition to the dozen-plus other awards her work has garnered. Tometich (still) lives in Fort Myers with her husband, two children, and her ever-fiery Filipina mother.