Gold Award, Pacific Asia Travel Association

1993 Gold Award, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Getting Hold of Big Sur (travel story in VIA)

Society of American Travel Writers Western Chapter

1999 Second place, Society of American Travel Writers Western Chapter, Hiking the Chilkoot (travel story in VIA)

James Jones First Novel Fellowship finalist

2000 James Jones First Novel Fellowship finalist for novel, The Last Cannoli, Legas, New York, 2000

2003 and 2004 Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction

2003 and 2004 Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction finalist, for short stories A dying tiger moaned for drink (’03) and Virgin Vision (’04)

Kurt Vonnegut fiction competition

2006 – Third place in the Kurt Vonnegut fiction competition; my short story Plot Theory has been published in the literary journal, North American Review.