Brian Castleberry (fiction '08) was awarded the VCU Department of English Writing Award for graduate fiction. Brian and fellow student Michele Poulos (fiction '08) also received the Department nomination for possible inclusion in the Best New Voices anthology.

Ben Dombroski (poetry '09) and Catherine MacDonald (poetry '07) received the annual Catherine and Joan Byrne Poetry Prize, endowed through the Academy of American Poets by 2001 MFA program graduate Nan Byrne. Catherine also received a scholarship from Ropewalk Writers Retreat.

Tarfia Faizullah's (poetry '09) poem “Ramadan Aubade” was selected as one of the winners of the 2007 Intro Journals Project and will be published in the Mid-American Review.

Mary Jean Kledzik (poetry '07) recieved the annual VCU Department of English Writing Award for graduate poetry.

Nick Reading's (poetry '07) poetry was nominated and eventually a finalist for the Best of the Net Anthology and his poems are forthcoming in Bat City Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and jubilat.

Greg Weatherford (fiction '09) wrote and published several articles/essays in such publications as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Style Weekly, Family Style, and Richmond Magazine. He was a finalist for the Media Criticism category in the National Association of Alternative Newsweeklies awards.