Listed by Category
Category #1: Free Verse
Judge: Al Rocheleau, FL
1st Place: Lynn Aprill, “Advice to a First-Year Teacher”
2nd Place: Jerri Hardesty, “Extraordinary Contraption”
3rd Place: Gay Guard-Chamberlin, “Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette by Vincent Van Gogh”
1st Honorable Mention: Barbara Blanks, “Creed”
2nd Honorable Mention: Sarah Rae, “The Olives in Essaouira”
3rd Honorable Mention: Marianne Forman, “I am Still Waiting”
Category #2: Formal Verse
Judge: Catherine Moran, AR
1st Place: Melissa Huff, “Why Bother (a love poem)”
2nd Place: Linda Wallin, “Solace”
3rd Place: Melvin Goldberg, “The Affair”
1st Honorable Mention: Paul Buchheit, “Carpe Praeterita”
2nd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris, “Sonnet for Cheryl”
3rd Honorable Mention: Jennifer Dotson, “Goodbye, Joe. A Villanelle”
Category #3: Nature
Judge: Joyce Shiver, FL
1st Place: James Green, “Heron’s Flight”
2nd Place: Wilda Morris, “Because”
3rd Place: Scott Shaffer, “Maine Boulders”
1st Honorable Mention: Maureen Flannery, “Mountain Spring”
2nd Honorable Mention: Jane Richards, “On the deck one August morning”
3rd Honorable Mention: Barbara Blanks, “Nature’s First Gray is Gold”
Category #4: Humorous Poem
Judge: Roderick Bates, VT
1st Place: Barbara Lydecker Crane, “Anna Graham”
2nd Place: Michael Harty, “So Long, Coffee Bean”
3rd Place: Maureen Daley, “The Bumblers”
1st Honorable Mention: Melvin Goldberg, “How the Stimulus Works in Blank Verse”
2nd Honorable Mention: Barbara Blanks, “Conscious Objective”
3rd Honorable Mention: Nancy Cook, “To Err is Human, To Give, Divine”
Category #5: Miniature Poem
Judge: Deborah Petersen, IN
1st Place: Carol Kanter, “Harbinger”
2nd Place: Sean Winn, “Fajr”
3rd Place: Marjorie Skelly, “Common Loons on the Surface of Big Crooked Lake”
1st Honorable Mention: Marcia Pradzinski, “Lost”
2nd Honorable Mention: Nancy Cook, “Music in the Time of Quarantine”
3rd Honorable Mention: Kate Hutchinson, “Your Hands”
Category #6: Social Conscience
Judge: Elizabeth Kerlikowske, MI
1st Place: Tonya Coats, “Camouflage is the New Black”
2nd Place: Marianne Forman, “Ashes”
3rd Place: Rita Yager, “Sharp Enough to Break My Skin”
1st Honorable Mention: Lynn Aprill, “Critical Race Theory”
2nd Honorable Mention: Melvin Goldberg, “Teaching History in the Barrio”
3rd Honorable Mention: Maureen Flannery, “Judicial Record #2539”
Category #7: Pop Culture
Judge: Donna Vorreyer, IL
1st Place: Marianne Forman, “Ancestry.com”
2nd Place: Katharyn Howd Machan, “O Muse, O Dove, O Listener to Wordless Breath”
3rd Place: Sean Winn, “Contrails”
1st Honorable Mention: Nancy Cook, “Normal People”
2nd Honorable Mention: Caroline Johnson, “Frida Kahlo Reflects on Her Life and Gives a Message to the Disabled”
3rd Honorable Mention: Dan Fitzgerald, “Celebrity”
Category #8: Antiquity/Legends
Judge: Rebecca Kanan, MO
1st Place: Wilda Morris, “Rethinking Icarus”
2nd Place: Maureen Flannery, “Land Holds its Own Memorials”
3rd Place: Jocelyn Ajami, “Remembering the Etruscans”
1st Honorable Mention: Sean Winn, “Gold Leaf”
2nd Honorable Mention: Caroline Johnson, “Mermaid in the Garden”
3rd Honorable Mention: Cynthia Gallaher, “Marble Reincarnation”
Category #9: Foreign Countries/Travel
Judge: Susan Huebner, WI
1st Place: Marianne Forman, “Ubuntu: The Clothing Store Queue at
Kara Tepe Refugee Camp”
2nd Place: Paul Buchheit, “Bangkok”
3rd Place: James Green, “Morning on Soi Charoen Krung 85,
near Wat Worachanyawat, Bangkok”
1st Honorable Mention: Lorraine Jeffery, “Anglophilia”
2nd Honorable Mention: Caroline Johnson, “At the Plaza del Carmen in Madrid”
3rd Honorable Mention: Sean Winn, “Bangkok”
Category #10: Neighbors
Judge: Michael Escoubas, IL
1st Place: Paul Buchheit, “Neighbors in the Morning Woods”
2nd Place: Catherine Moran, “Delivering Meals on Wheels”
3rd Place: Tanya Whitney, “The Neighborhood”
1st Honorable Mention: Jerri Hardesty, “From Left Field”
2nd Honorable Mention: Nick Sweet, “May’s Café”
3rd Honorable Mention: Lorraine Jeffrey, “Losing”
Category #11: Outer Space
Judge: Peter Gordon, FL
1st Place: Kate Hutchinson, “Bindings”
2nd Place: Beth Staas, “Upon Hearing of Higgs’ Boson”
3rd Place: Catherine Moran, “Entering with you into outer space”
1st Honorable Mention: Melissa Huff, “Scientists and I Come Closer to Agreeing about Sounds in Outer Space”
2nd Honorable Mention: Linda Wallin, “Childhood’s End”
3rd Honorable Mention: Cynthia Gallaher, “Solar Eclipse”
Category #12: Orange
Judge: Carol Croll, PA
1st Place: Maureen Flannery, “Painted Ladies”
2nd Place: Paul Buchheit, “Homage to Orange”
3rd Place: Barbara Lydecker Crane, “Remarks from the Artist”
1st Honorable Mention: Katharyn Howd Machan, “Orange Sweatshirt from the Trunk of a Car”
2nd Honorable Mention: Michael Escoubas, “Reaching for the Orange”
3rd Honorable Mention: Sean Winn, “Tangerine”
Category #13: Chicago
Judge: Dan Campion, IA
1st Place: Gay Guard-Chamberlin, “Cooler by the Lake”
2nd Place: Paul Buchheit, “Chicago: A Century After Mr. Sandburg”
3rd Place: Melissa Huff, “Walking Meditation – Lincoln Park”
1st Honorable Mention: Cynthia Gallaher, “When Octavio Paz Spoke of Chicago, I Remembered”
2nd Honorable Mention: Carol Kanter, “Full Stop”
3rd Honorable Mention: Caroline Johnson, “Sunday Afternoons”