Jeanette Mrozinski, a master of fine arts candidate in creative nonfiction in WashU’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize from the Australian Book Review (ABR).
The prize is among the world’s most prestigious for an unpublished essay. Mrozinski is the first American to receive the honor. She was recognized for “Eucharist,” a harrowing account of a woman’s desperate search for antiretroviral medication, which can prevent development of HIV, in the 72 hours after being raped.
“As the crucial minutes tick away and our protagonist rushes to yet another pharmacy, we observe the grim realities of America’s health system for those facing hard choices around unaffordable, unattainable pharmaceuticals,” the selection jury noted. “The essay depicts ordinary, everyday distress in today’s America.”
“Eucharist” was chosen from a field of 648 entries representing 26 countries. The piece will be published in the Australian Book Review’s May 2025 volume. Mrozinski will receive a first-place award of $5,000 Australian dollars.
“Often, the working-class stories that make it into our literature are treated as outsider art, their value appraised by their shocking degrees of desperation and humiliation that, for millions, is simply the chronic dramatic tension of everyday survival,” Mrozinski said. “(I’m) so deeply heartened to know that ABR readers are engaging with this story of individual and collective action.”
Read more on australianbookreview.com.
