This anthology collects the winners of the 2019 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT's Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Eli Saslow, 'It Was My Job, and I Didn't Find Him' (The Washington Post), narrates the life of a former officer at the Parkland high school shooting. Second place: Elizabeth Bruenig, 'What Do We Owe Her Now?' (The Washington Post), is the story of a high school rape victim who received no justice. Third place: Hannah Dreier, 'The Disappeared' (ProPublica), follows a mother who lost her teenage son to gang violence. Runners-up include Jamie Thompson, 'Standoff' (The Dallas Morning News); Lane DeGregory, 'Lincoln's Shot' (Tampa Bay Times); Jenna Russell, 'The World, the Stage, the Way Ahead' (The Boston Globe); Evan Allen, 'Under a Dark Sky, a Baby is Born' (The Boston Globe); Lisa Gartner, 'She's Taught at the Parkland High School for 14 Years. Can She Go Back?' (Tampa Bay Times); Claire McNeill, 'So You Remember the Student Who Was Shot at FSU? He's Pretty Sure We've All Moved On' (Tampa Bay Times); and Bethany Barnes, 'Targeted' (The Oregonian).

This anthology collects the ten winners of the 2020 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT's Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Christopher Goffard, 'Detective Trapp' (Los Angeles Times) is about a complicated murder investigation and its human impact. Second place: Annie Gowen, 'Left Behind: American Farm Families in Crisis during Trump's Trade War' (The Washington Post) tells about a despairing farmer's suicide and aftermath. Third place: Jennifer Berry Hawes and Stephen Hobbs, 'It's Time for You to Die' (Post & Courier) presents a gut-wrenching drama of America's deadliest episode of prison violence. Runners-up include Peter Jamison, 'The Confession' (The Washington Post); Mark Johnson, 'House Calls and Rarest of Diseases' (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Nestor Ramos, 'At the Edge of a Warming World' (Boston Globe); Noelle Crombie, Kale Williams, and Beth Nakamura, 'No Mercy' (The Oregonian); Tara Duggan and Jason Fagone, 'The Fisherman's Tale' (San Francisco Chronicle); Jenna Russell, 'Brilliant, Faithful, Undaunted' (Boston Globe); and Charles Scudder, 'Guardians: When Evil Came Through the Door' (Dallas Morning News).

This anthology collects the ten winners of the 2022 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Jason Fagone, “The Jessica Simulation: Love and Loss in the Age of A.I.,” about one man’s attempt to still communicate with his dead fiancÉe (San Francisco Chronicle). Second place: Jenna Russell, Penelope Overton, and David Abel, “The Lobster Trap” (The Boston Globe and Portland Press Herald). Third place: Jada Yuan, “Discovering Dr. Wu” (The Washington Post). Runners-up include Lane DeGregory, “Who Wants to Be a Cop? (Tampa Bay Times); Christopher Goffard, “The Trials of Frank Carson” (Los Angeles Times); Evan Allen, “Under the Wheel” (The Boston Globe); Mark Johnson, “A Wisconsin Mom Gave Birth in a COVID-19 Coma before Slipping to the Brink of Death” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Annie Gowen, “A Dance, Not a War” (The Washington Post); Peter Jamison, “They’d Battled Addiction Together. Then Lockdowns became a ‘Recipe for Death’” (The Washington Post); and Douglas Perry, “The Obsession” (The Oregonian / Oregon Live).

This anthology collects the nine winners of the 2021 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT's Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First-place winner: Greg Jaffe and his three-part series on the pandemic, beginning with "The Pandemic Hit and This Car Became Home for a Family of Four" (The Washington Post). Second place: Hannah Dreier with "The Worst-Case Scenario" (The Washington Post). Third place: Leonora LaPeter Anton, Kavitha Surana, and Kathryn Varn with "Death at Freedom Square" (Tampa Bay Times). Runners-up include Rory Linnane, "Maricella's Last Breath" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Hannah Dreier, "Tatiana's Luck" (The Washington Post); Deborah Vankin, "This 81-Year-Old was L.A.'s Most Devoted Museum-Goer until COVID-19" (Los Angeles Times); Lauren Caruba, "Night Shift" (San Antonio Express News); Mark Johnson, "Saving Raynah's Brain" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); and John Woodrow Cox, "They Depended on Their Parents for Everything" (The Washington Post).

This anthology collects the eleven winners of the 2018 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, an event hosted by the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas. First place winner: Kale Williams, ""The Loneliest Polar Bear"" (The Oregonian), relates the tale of Nora, a baby polar bear raised by humans in a zoo after being abandoned by her mother. Second place: Patricia Callahan, ""Doomed by Delay"" (Chicago Tribune), reveals the experiences of Illinois families with children diagnosed with Krabbe-a deadly disease that healthcare professionals could have screened for at birth, and ultimately treated, if it weren't for government bureaucracy. Third place: Christopher Goffard, ""Dirty John"" (Los Angeles Times), is an investigative story that explores the dynamics of domestic violence with a nuanced, psychologically complex narrative of family and survival. Runners-up include John Woodrow Cox, ""Twelve Seconds of Gunfire"" (The Washington Post); Tom Hallman Jr., ""His Heart, Her Hands"" (The Oregonian); Jenna Russell, ""The Last Refugee"" (The Boston Globe); Lisa Gartner and Zachary T. Sampson, ""Wrong Way"" (Tampa Bay Times); Casey Parks, ""About a Boy"" (The Oregonian); Jennifer Emily, ""Hope for the Rest of Us"" (The Dallas Morning News); Kent Babb, ""There's Nowhere to Run"" (The Washington Post); and Lane DeGregory, ""The House on the Corner"" (Tampa Bay Times).