The Andrés Montoya POetry Prize
The Huizache Literary Initiative is pleased to announce that María Esquinca is the recipient of the 2024 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Named after the late Chicano poet from Fresno, the prize honors Montoya’s enduring literary legacy. The new iteration of the prize was re-established at the University of California, Davis in collaboration with the New Oeste Series at the University of Nevada Press and continues to support the publication of a first book by a Latinx poet residing in the United States.
This year’s prize was judged by former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who was assisted by first readers Anthony Cody, Hermelinda Hernandez, and Josiah Luis Alderete. Juan Felipe Herrera also designated two finalist manuscripts as runners-up, Mae Ramirez’s “Moonward Delirium” and Katarina Xóchitl Vargas’s “The Half That Runs.” Paco Marquez received an honorable mention for his manuscript “In the Peripheral Background.”
Born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, María Esquinca grew up in El Paso, Texas. She now lives in Oakland, CA where she is a producer for The Bay podcast, a production of KQED. She was previously a New York Women’s Foundation IGNITE Fellow with Latino USA and a 2020 Report for America Corps Member at Radio Bilingüe. María graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso and received her MFA from the University of Miami. She also graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her poetry has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Waxwing, The Florida Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Cream City Review, and others. In 2018, she won the Alfred Boas Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets judged by Victoria Chang, and in 2024 she won the South Carolina Review Ronald Moran Prize in Poetry. Her book reviews and interviews have appeared in Adroit Journal and ANMLY.
About the Prize
The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize was created in 2004 by Letras Latinas, the literary initiative of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame to honor Montoya and his work. Founding coordinator Francisco Aragón wrote about the formation of the prize in 2007 on the Letras Latinas blog.
Created at a time when publishing opportunities for Latinx poets were few, the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize established itself as a key outlet for emerging Latinx poets. Winners have reflected a broad range of backgrounds and aesthetic styles and have gone on to prolific and decorated careers. Judges of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize have included the most prominent voices in Latinx literature, including current U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, National Book Award winner Martín Espada, and foundational poets such as Francisco X. Alarcón and Rhina P. Espaillat. The judge for the upcoming prize will be Juan Felipe Herrera, former California and U.S. Poet Laureate as well as one of Andrés’s mentors.
The Prize provides a space for artists who, while part of the largest and fastest growing minority in the United States, are also increasingly diverse in their modes of literary expression. The prize, therefore, does not privilege any particular style, subject matter, or aesthetic.
Winner 2004
selected by Robert Vazquez
Winner 2006
selected by Valerie Martínez
Winner 2008
selected by Martín Espada
Winner 2010
selected by Silvia Curbelo
Winner 2012
selected by Francisco X. Alarcón
Winner 2014
selected by Rhina P. Espaillat
Winner 2016
selected by Edwin Torres
Winner 2018
selected by Ada Limón
Winner 2020
selected by John Murillo
Winner 2022
selected by Alexandra Lytton Regalado and Sheila Maldonado
Winner 2024
selected by Juan Felipe Herrera
Gabriel Gomez 2006
Paul Martínez Pompa 2008
Emma Trelles 2010
Laurie Ann Guerrero 2012
David Campos 2014
Felicia Zamora 2016
Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes 2018
Darrel Alejandro Holnes 2020
Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes 2018
The 2024 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize winner is María Esquinca, selected by former US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.
The next prize will be in 2026.
Andrés Montoya Creative Writing Scholarship
Fresno State
The Andres Montoya Memorial Creative Writing Scholarships are awarded annually by the Montoya family through the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing and the Fresno State Foundation. Two scholarships (one at the undergraduate and one at the graduate level) of $500 are awarded each fall to students who demonstrate significant interest in Chicano culture and/or history and who are pursuing a career in the field of creative writing. Recipients must be enrolled at California State University, Fresno during the award year. Selections are based on talent and financial need.
Past winners have published widely. Click the names below or the books at right to learn more about these writers.
Guadalupe Salgado Partida, Stefan Leiva, David R. Carrasco Gomez, Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras, Victoria Monsivaiz, Aidan Castro, Mariah Bosch, Michael Cantú, Kirk Alvaro Lua, Carolina Mata, Javier Lopez, Alexandra Carrillo, Arthur Morales, Christina Legler, Tatiana Gómez, Mireyda Barraza Martinez, J.J. Hernandez, Jackie Huertaz, Teresa S. Chacón, Jessica Santillan, Steven Sanchez, Cynthia Guardado, Alejandro Lara, Alvaro Huerta, Mario Rosado, Erin L. Álvarez, David Campos, Juan Luis Guzmán, James Espinoza, Emily Tallman, Nancy Hernandez, Irene de la Vega, Michael Luis Medrano, Marisol Baca, Marie Chan, Kenneth R. Chacón, James Pablo Tyner, Cecile Lopez
The Ghetto Exoricst (2009), a chapbook by James Tyner, first poet laureate of Fresno and 2001 winner as an undergrad.
Born in the Cavity of Sunsets (2009) by 2000 and 2002 winner, Michael Luis Medrano.
Furious Dusk (2015) by David Campos, the first Fresno-based poet to win the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. He also won the scholarship as an undergrad in 2009.
The Cholo Who Said Nothing (2016) by 2001 winner, Kenneth R. Chacón.
Endeavor (2017) by 2010 and 2011 winner, Cynthia Guardado.
Photographs of our Shadow (2017), a chapbook by 2012 winner, Steven Sanchez.
Tremor (2018) by Fresno City College English professor, Marisol Baca. She won the scholarship in 2002 and 2003.
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