2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest Winners
Zoom awards reading – Sunday, Oct. 8,
2:00 p.m. CDT
Helen Schaible was a poet, mother, teacher, classicist. The Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest was established in her memory in 1998 by the Poets Club of Chicago and funded by a gift from Helen's daughters Jane Edwards, Lucy Parker, and Katherine Martin, and her son, the late David Schaible.
Traditional Sonnets
1st Place: Libby Maxey (MA), “Some familiarities of Apis mellifera”
2nd Place: Gregory Bell (CA), “The Poet Contemplates His Own Demise”
3rd Place: Kathleen McClung (CA), “The Walk,” 2015
1st Honorable Mention: Matthew King (Canada), “On Presuming to Help the Phoebes Build Their Nest”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lory Widmer Hess (Switzerland), “Saint John’s Fire”
3rd Honorable Mention: David Shaffer (Israel), “I Have Been a Frightened Tree”
1st Special Merit: Kim Roberts (D. C.) “Watching as She Falters, Loses A Memory”
2nd Special Merit: Michael Stalcup (Thailand), “The Curse’s Crest Become the Church’s Sign”
3rd Special Merit: Jacquelyn Shah (TX), “The Heart Within”
Modern Sonnets
1st Place: John Sweeder (NJ), “Sunken Treasures”
2nd Place: James B. Nicola (NY), “When It’s Over”
3rd Place: Don Hogle (NY), “War”
1st Honorable Mention: Mel Goldberg (TX), “Sentient Machines”
2nd Honorable Mention: Jill Morsbach (S. Africa), “Out, Out Brief Candle”
3rd Honorable Mention: Gail White (LA), “The Innocent”
1st Special Merit: Jennifer M. Phillips (MA), “Can’t See the River of Denial for the Trees”
2nd Special Merit: Jeanne Blum Lesinski (MI), “Final Proof”
3rd Special Merit: Wilda Morris (IL), “And No Title”