Stack Awards 2018: Best Original Non-Fiction
For this category of the Stack Awards, we’re looking for the most exceptional interviews, reportage, and any other writing based on real events. Our judges are Rob Alderson, managing editor of WeTransfer, and Mike Dang, editor-in-chief of Longreads.
Read on to find out more about the 15 articles shortlisted in this category…
Anxy | Berkeley
Anxy magazine explores mental health and our inner worlds. In ‘This is What It’s Like When ICE Detains You’, Floricel Liborio Ramos comes to the editors after 11 months in detention, ready to dig into the story of what it means to find yourself at the sharpest point of America’s political anger. The non-fiction account she produced was intense, personal, and deeply moving.
Berlin Quarterly | Berlin
In ‘Sunrise in Bucharest’, William Ralston situates the clandestine birth of the now globally renowned genre of Rominimal music. The electronic sub-genre, against all odds, began under Romania’s communist dictatorship, which heavily censored both music production and performance. Any reader will walk away with a fresh understanding of recent Romanian history, as well as an appreciation for the commitment of the artists who defied Ceausescu’s policies.
Borshch | Berlin
In conversation with techno producer Jeff Mills, writer Mariana Berezovska asked critical questions and received honest answers about stagnation and racism in the scene, stimulation of creativity, and the potential of techno to become a super genre.
Ecotone | North Carolina
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s evocative essay “Monsoon and Peacock” moves from childhood visits to her grandparents’ home in India to her primary-school classroom in the United States.
Eye magazine | London
Writer Sarah Snaith profiles design director of the New York Times magazine Gail Bichler in this submission.
Fare magazine | Glasgow
Fare is a magazine exploring the heart of a city’s culture through the intersection of its food, history, and communities. Helen Korpak’s story, ‘Arriving to Moscow’, offers an alluring glimpse into the absurdity of Soviet lifestyle, art, and nostalgia, at Helsinki bar ‘Café Moskova’.
Forme | London
Forme is a new letterpress publication, typographically exploring science’s explanations of the world around us by committing ink to paper. ‘Untruth’ is the subject of the first issue, which looks at how we navigate a world riddled with misinformation and fake news. A commissioned feature from cognitive neuroscientist Neil Garrett reveals how our brains react to messages we suspect to be false and what motivates us to investigate them further, even when we know we’re being lied to.
Harvard Design Magazine | Cambridge
In ‘Rereading: Daniil Kharms, “A Man Had Left His Home One Day”’, Harvard Design Magazine asks two different thinkers — a historically relevant architect and a translator — to comment on a poem by Daniil Kharms. One annotates the piece through a storyboard while the other offers insight through literal annotation.
Nataal | London
‘Versage’ is the fruit of writer Allyn Gaestel’s long obsession with counterfeit fashion production between Nigeria and China. It’s easy to laugh at fake designer fashion but through Allyn’s eyes it’s equal parts empowering and saddening, speaking volumes about how globalisation affects and connects us all.
Put A Egg On It | New York
Linda Sparrowe writes about her life as a student in America in the 1960s in ‘Resisting’. By taking us into her life as an active participant in a burgeoning anti-war movement, we see her teenage male friends who were terrified and all consumed with avoiding the draft, looking at what they ate and didn’t eat and how all of this affected them for the rest of their lives.
Racquet | New York
Ben Rothenberg’s ‘Loser’s Lunch’ bridges the worlds of intense sports fanship and literary non-fiction writing, while adding a layer of old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting.
Rugby | London
As the name suggests, Rugby is dedicated to the sport with the funny-shaped ball. It’s particularly interested in uncovering the sport’s untold stories, in long-form articles that weave history with identity to transcend the sport.
Scamp | London
‘Where is Majela?’ by Oskar Oprey tries to track down the retired Youtube sensation, Majela ZeZe Diamond, aka The Queen of Vagina. Scamp’s ambition is to create a sort of cross between Viz and Vanity Fair, packed with glossy, in-depth, serious piss-taking.
The Nib | New York
In this submitted story, Ted Closson shares a moving memoir about losing a newborn child. It is beautifully illustrated and powerfully told.
Weapons of Reason | London
In ‘Dirty Meats’, Maryn McKenna looks at how steak is contributing to the collapse of modern medicine, and why a child’s love for chicken nuggets might mean they will never take an effective course of antibiotics in their lifetime.
