Epic Threads Announces the Winners of the 2026 Homer in the 21st Century Review Competition

02.09.2026

Epic Threads is delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 Homer in the 21st Century Review Competition, celebrating outstanding critical engagement with contemporary receptions and reimaginings of Homer.

This year’s competition invited writers to critically engage with two contemporary works inspired by the Homeric tradition: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Jeff Wright’s The Full Disclosure Iliad. We were incredibly excited to receive a large number of reviews representing a remarkable range of perspectives, approaches, and interpretations.

The strength of the submissions made the final selection process particularly difficult. Following careful evaluation and discussion by the Epic Threads judging team, five reviews have been selected to receive prizes of $100 each:

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

  • Michael Mammarella
  • Rita Ribeiro Costa
  • Carlotta Mühlhardt
  • Hannah Blosser

Jeff Wright’s The Full Disclosure Iliad

  • Jerome De Smet

The five prizes are awarded equally and are not ranked.

Congratulations to each of our prize winners, and our sincere thanks to everyone who submitted a review to this year’s competition! The quality and variety of the submissions made reaching our final decisions both exciting and exceptionally challenging.

Coming September 8: Epic Threads, Volume II

All five prize-winning reviews, alongside a broader selection of reviews chosen for publication, will appear in a dedicated review section of Epic Threads, Volume II.

We are also very pleased to announce that Epic Threads, Volume II will be released on September 8, 2026. In addition to the new review section, Volume II will feature the journal’s latest collection of creative submissions, bringing together creative and critical engagements with the ancient world in a single issue.

We are tremendously excited to share the work of our contributors and competition participants with our readers.

Stay tuned for the release of Epic Threads, Volume II — September 8, 2026!

— The Epic Threads Editorial Team