Listed by Category
#1 Free Verse
Judge: Peter Gordon
1st Place: Lorraine Jeffery (UT), “Precious”
2nd Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “Holding Hands with Strangers”
3rd Place: Stephanie DuPont (GA), “The Hurricane”
1st Honorable Mention: John Wolf (IL), “Too Far City”
2nd Honorable Mention: Gay Guard-Chamberlin (IL), “Ars Poetica”
3rd Honorable Mention: Carol Alfus (IL), “Line Dried Sheets”
#2 Formal Verse
Judge: Dan Campion
1st Place: Daniel Moreschi (Wales, UK), “A Starling Studded Show”
2nd Place: Chad Trevitte (VA), “The Adjunct”
3rd Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “Synchronicity”
1st Honorable Mention: John Wolf (IL), “The Book”
2nd Honorable Mention: Khalid Mukhtar (IL), “On Forgetting”
3rd Honorable Mention: Carol Kanter (IL), “Reflections on the Raising of Glass Ceilings: ‘Mother May I?’”
#3 Nature
Judge: Rebecca Kanan
1st Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “Before You Were a Daffodil”
2nd Place: Lynda La Rocca (CO), “Conflagration”
3rd Place: Kathryn Haydon (IL), “Hanging from the Edge”
1st Honorable Mention: Melissa Huff (IL), “Doggedness”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lorraine Jeffery (UT), “Kaleidoscope”
3rd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris (IL), “Seaweed”
#4 Humorous Poem
Judge: Roderick Bates
1st Place: Mike Orlock (WI), “Love Among the Molars”
2nd Place: Lorraine Jeffery (UT), “Community Rec Center”
3rd Place: Court Williams (IL), “A Meal”
1st Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris (IL), “Checking Out”
2nd Honorable Mention: Gail Denham (OR), “The Upper Berth”
3rd Honorable Mention: Rita Moritz (AL), “The Odds Just Can’t Be Beat”
#5 Miniature Poem
(12-line limit)
Judge: Marianne Paul
1st Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “At the Altar of My Life”
2nd Place: Wilda Morris (IL), “Blue Willow”
3rd Place: Nancy Cook (MN), “What Wallace Stevens Meant”
1st Honorable Mention: Lynn Aprill (WI), “The Commandments of the Converted Church AirBnB in the Heat of July”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lynda La Rocca (CO), “Another Perspective”
3rd Honorable Mention: Carol Kanter (IL), “All Is Not Lost”
#6 Social Conscience
Judge: Catherine Moran
1st Place: Jocelyn Ajami (IL), “The Wizard of Loss”
2nd Place: Judy SooHoo (IL), “Search for Meaning — A 3-Image Poem”
3rd Place: Ellen Wade (IL), “It Is Not Enough”
1st Honorable Mention: Marianne Peel (KY), “Collage: Nine Ways of Looking at a Revolution”
2nd Honorable Mention: Carol Alfus (IL), “Rebuttal”
3rd Honorable Mention: Maureen Flannery (IL), “Judicial Record #2539”
#7 Ekphrastic
Judge: Michael Escoubas
1st Place: Melissa Huff (IL), “Music for the Eye”
2nd Place: Lynn Aprill (WI), “Curiosity”
3rd Place: Gail Denham (OR), “We Three”
1st Honorable Mention: Joseph Carey (IL), “Texas Chess”
2nd Honorable Mention: Ellen Wade (IL), “Majestic Sentries”
3rd Honorable Mention: Lorraine Jeffery (UT), “American Gothic”
#8 Home
Judge: Elizabeth Kerlikowske
1st Place: Ellen Wade (IL), “Iron Bird”
2nd Place: Maureen Flannery (IL), “Making a Home in the Church”
3rd Place: Anne Alarcon (NY), “Currencies”
1st Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris (IL), “Transparencies”
2nd Honorable Mention: Catherine Moran (AR), “Remembering the Warmth of My Home”
3rd Honorable Mention: Kathryn Haydon (IL), “Always On: My Neighbor's TV”
#9 Secrets
Judge: Deborah Petersen
1st Place: Kathryn Haydon (IL), “Primary Source Documents”
2nd Place: Paul Buchheit (IL), “The Mystery That Is You”
3rd Place: Lynn Aprill (WI), “Scrabble: A Bop Poem”
1st Honorable Mention: Tanya Whitney (LA), “Just Pieces of Information?”
2nd Honorable Mention: Maureen Flannery (IL), “Another Story Hinted At”
3rd Honorable Mention: Mel Goldberg (TX), “Observation”
#10 Ancestors
Judge: Ricardo Ruiz
1st Place: Dan Fitzgerald (IL), “New Again”
2nd Place: Elizabeth King (IL), “Nana’s Purse”
3rd Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “Estate Sale”
1st Honorable Mention: Michael Freveletti (IL), “Uncle Umberto’s Magician”
2nd Honorable Mention: Ellen Wade (IL), “One Drop”
3rd Honorable Mention: Paul Buchheit (IL), “Oldest Friend”
#11 Endangered Animals and Plants
Judge: Michael Magee
1st Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “All Things Both Great and Small”
2nd Place: Nancy Davis (IL), “Inheritance”
3rd Place: Paul Buchheit (IL), “Sonnet to St. Francis of Assisi, Friend of Animals
1st Honorable Mention: Jennifer Dotson (IL), “Sequoia Tritina”
2nd Honorable Mention: Kate Hutchinson (IL), “The Alalā (Hawaiian Crow)
3rd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris (IL), “Chimps”
#12 Chicago
Judge: Kim Ransom
1st Place: Jocelyn Ajami (IL), “Party Time, 1943”
2nd Place: Cassandra McGovern (IL), “John Prine’s Ravinia Concert, Highland Park, IL 1970s”
3rd Place: John Gordon (IL), “Chicago Playgrounds”
1st Honorable Mention: Mark Hammerschick (IL), “Walking in Horner Park”
2nd Honorable Mention: Gay Guard-Chamberlin (IL), “Chicago Corvids”
3rd Honorable Mention: Sheila Elliott (IL), “Chicago”