Leah Hampton, an English instructor and associate director of the Writing and Learning Commons at Western Carolina University, is the winner of the 2012 Doris Betts Fiction Prize competition for her story “The Saint.”

Hampton will receive a cash prize from the North Carolina Writers Network, and her story will be published in the North Carolina Literary Review’s 2013 issue.

Liza Wieland, fiction editor at the North Carolina Literary Review, selected Hampton’s story from 12 finalists out of a total of 89 entries. “The Saint” was “both disarmingly wise and breathtakingly beautiful,” Wieland said. She chose it as the winner in large part for its “quiet, deliberate voice,” “energy of the language” and “experiment with chronology,” Wieland said.

“It felt so good to finish it, to feed that part of myself. I am so thrilled and fulfilled by this whole experience,” Hampton said.