Winners’ List 2023

Traditional Sonnets, Judge: Brian Turner

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, Judge: Beth Staas

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”

Winners’ List 2022

Traditional Sonnets, Judge: Marilyn L. Taylor (WI)

1st Place: Martin J. Elster (CT), “Hawk Feather”
2nd Place: Charmaine Smith (CA), “Silent Running”
3rd Place: Gail White (LA), “Cat Spotting”

1st Honorable Mention: Lynda LaRocca (CO), “Trinity”
2nd Honorable Mention: Enriqueta Carrington (NJ), “For a Silent Musician”
3rd Honorable Mention: Jean L. Kreiling (MA), “Tunneling”

1st Special Merit: Mel Goldberg (IL), “On Seeing Picasso’s Guernica”
2nd Special Merit: John Whitney Steele (CO), “Borrowing”
3rd Special Merit: Julia Griffin (GA), “Whole”

Modern Sonnet, Judge: Steven Concert (PA)

1st Place: Betsy Bolton (PA), “Sycamores #5: Broken”
2nd Place: Miranda Beeson (NY), “Praise Song”
3rd Place: K. Roberts (USA), “Fisherman’s Sonnet”

1st Honorable Mention: Gail White (LA), “Driving in Italy”
2nd Honorable Mention: Ryan Apple (MI), “For Autumn Days You Think of the Winter”
3rd Honorable Mention: Quentin Brown (S. Africa), “Moustache”

1st Special Merit: Michael Stalcup (Thailand), “Christ’s Coronation”
2nd Special Merit: Tracy Davidson (U. K.), “Fractured”
3rd Special Merit: Meghayn Wilkheims (GA), “The Angel Aria’s Death: Wings Sprawled Upon the Branch”

Winners’ List 2021

1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place sonnets in each category will be published in THINK: A Journal of Poetry, Plays, and Fiction in Spring, 2022.

Traditional Sonnets, Judge: Mary Hanford Bruce (IL)

1st Place: Kate Holdcroft (U.K.), “Storming”
2nd Place: Robert Archer (Spain), “Sonnet for a Late Marriage”
3rd Place: Lynda LaRocca (CO), “Unbroken”

1st Honorable Mention: Stuart Stromin (CA), “Othello Awake”
2nd Honorable Mention: David J. Kann (CA), “The Audit”
3rd Honorable Mention: Kathleen McClung (CA), “Boy on Sidewalk, Pandemic Winter”

Special Recognition:
1st Special Merit: Elizabeth Spragins (VA), “A Rock for the Hill”
2nd Special Merit: Michael Stalcup (CO), “Judas in the Upper Room”
3rd Special Merit: James B. Nicola (NY), “On Loving a Bald Man of African Ancestry”

Modern Sonnet, Judge: Allen Braden (WA)

1st Place: Erica Reid (CO), “The Silences”
2nd Place: Chad Trevitte (VA), “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
3rd Place: Steven Monte (NY), “Oscar Wilde’s Letter to a Young Poet”

1st Honorable Mention: Jane Blanchard (GA), “Undertaking”
2nd Honorable Mention: Scott Wiggerman (NM), “Tracks”
3rd Honorable Mention: Bettye Jo Bell (MI), “LIE”

Special Recognition:
1st Special Merit: Gail White (LA), “The Ghost at the Table”
2nd Special Merit: Drew Pisarra (NY), “Cerium”
3rd Special Merit: René Parks (IL), “I think it was the chickens that I loved”

Winners’ List 2020

Category #1: Traditional Sonnet, Judge: Marilyn Taylor

1st Place: Catherine Hiller, NY – “The Senses”
2nd Place: Michael Stalcup, Bangkok, Thailand – “The Cross and the Lynching Tree”
3rd Place: Bill Lythgoe, Shevington, U. K. – “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

1st Honorable Mention: Katherine Quevedo, OR – “Kintsugi Master Pieces”
2nd Honorable Mention: Jean L. Kreiling, MA – “What Remains”
3rd Honorable Mention: Jeff Santosuosso, FL – “Greyhounds”

Special Recognition:
1st Special Merit: Barbara Blanks, TX – “Who Needs New England October When”
2nd Special Merit: John Steele, CO – “Sitting Mountain”
3rd Special Merit: Jonathan Pratt, Ontario, Canada – “The Storyteller and the Rose”

Category #2: Modern Sonnet, Judge: Justen Ahren

1st Place: Rebecca Bratten Weiss, OH – “Exile”
2nd Place: Don Hogle, NY – “Figures for an Urn”
3rd Place: L. Rose Reed, CO – “Sonnet for an Octopodal Paramour”

1st Honorable Mention: Mary Elder Jacobsen, VT – “How to Grow a Sonnet”
2nd Honorable Mention: Veronica Brush, CO – “Mark Not Me”
3rd Honorable Mention: Sonnet A. Medrano, TX – “Scene from a Silent Film”

Special Recognition:
1st Special Merit: Maya Levine, CA – “I Can’t Breathe”
2nd Special Merit: Angelica Esquivel, MI – “I Draw an Oil Pastel Portrait of Yayoi Kusama”
3rd Special Merit: Anastasia Jill, FL – “Jesus as the Lesbian I Met at Omegle”

Winners’ List 2019

Category #1: Traditional Sonnet, Judge: Marilyn Taylor
Number of Poems Submitted: 70

1st Michael Fleming, “Foxholes,” Brattleboro, VT
2nd Barbara Lydecker Crane, “Madame X,” Somerville, MA
3rd Katharyn Howd Machan, “The North of Skyros,” Ithaca, NY

1st HM Terence Culleton, “Fudge Shop,” Langhorne, PA
2nd HM Stephen Colley, “Collied Carpets,” Altadena, CA
3rd HM James B. Nicola, “Code,” New York, NY

Special Recognitions:
Beth Staas, “Odds and Ends,” Oak Brook, IL
Jennifer Rood, “Lover’s Scenes,” Grants Pass, OR
James Green, “I Sing in Praise of Boxscores,” Muncie, IN

Category #2: Modern Sonnet, Judge: Mary Hanford
Number of Poems Submitted: 57

1st Caitlin Cowan, “Sonnet for the David in the Subway,” Grand Haven, MI
2nd Karin Murray-Bergquist, “Morning Sonnet,” Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
3rd Bill Cushing, “A Sonnet to Slaughter,” Glendale, CA

1st HM Sara Gipson, “Things She Stored,” Scott, AR
2nd HM Betsy Locke, “On Visiting Dover in May,” Oxford, NY
3rd HM Carolyn Oliver, “Night Baseball,” Worcester, MA

Special Recognitions:
Wilda Morris, “With Tom in Chester, England,” Bolingbrook, IL
F.J. Bergmann, “Harvest,” Madison, WI
R.J. Keeler, “Male Sperm Counts Are Falling All Across the Western World,” Vashon, WA

Winners’ List 2018

1st Lynda LaRocca, “Portents of the Future,” Salida, CO
2nd Jerri Hardesty, “The Right Place at the Right Time,” Brierfield, AL
3rd Charlotte Digregorio, “Seizing the Day,” Winnetka, IL

Honorable Mention: Joyce Shiver, “Ben’s Song,” Crystal River, FL
Honorable Mention: David Odegaard, “It seems,” Brooklyn, NY
Honorable Mention: Mary Grace Sepik, “The Poet,” Wilmington, NC

Special Recognition: Christine Riddle, “Corn Futures,” Foley, AL
Special Recognition: Carolyn Oliver, “Nine Minutes in June,” Worcester, MA
Special Recognition: Brendan Wilson, “For L and R,” Tokyo, Japan

Winners’ List 2017

1st    Barbara Blanks, “Along the Ridge Trail,” Garland, TX
2nd    Betsy M. Hughes, “September Twilight Song,” Dayton, OH
3rd    Dalene Stull, “After Seven Years,” Danville, OH

1st HM    Jerri Hardesty, “Conduit,” Brierfield, AL
2nd HM    Charlotte Digregorio, “The Will to Write,” Winnetka, IL
3rd HM    Janice Fuller, “A Love Lost,” Webster, WI

Special Recognitions:

Candace Armstrong, “Revisitation,” Murphysboro, IL
Catherine Moran, “The English teacher pauses,” Little Rock, AR
Beth Staas, “Because,” Oak Brook, IL

Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to all who entered.  A special thank-you to our judge, Joyce Shiver.  There were many wonderful poems.
 

Winners’ List 2016

1st   Katharyn Howd Machan, The North of Skyros,” Ithaca, NY
2nd   Raymond Peringer, “When Other Eyes,” Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3rd   Michael Harty, “Dandelion,” Praririe Village, KS

HM   Mel Goldberg, “Last Dance,” Laredo, TX    
HM   Esther Whitman Johnson, “She Might As Well Have Been a Single Mom,” Roanoke, VA
HM   Deborah LeFalle, “Revisioning 71,” San Jose, CA
 

Special Recognitions:

Beth Staas, “In Praise of Tranquility,” La Grange Park, IL
Catherine Moran, “Settling for the earth,” Little Rock, AR
Libby Maxey, “Spring Snow,” Conway, MA

Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to all who entered. A special thank you to our judge, Rebecca Kanan.  There were many wonderful poems.

Winners’ List 2014

1st   Dalene Stull, “Autumn Tapestry,” Danville, OH
2nd   Yakov Azriel, “Arbeit Macht Frei,” Bala Cynwyd, PA
3rd   Gail White, “Old Cat Woman,” Breaux Bridge, LA

HM   Andrea Dietrich, “A Sonnet On My Threadbare Love,” Pleasant Grove, UT
HM   Neil P. Brothers, “Mortis,” Battle Creek, MI
HM   Barbara Blanks, “Afternoon Performance,” Garland, TX

Special Recognitions:

Lynda La Rocca, “La Desaparecida,” Twin Lakes, CO
Lee Pelham Cotton, “Out Of Its Element,” Locust Hill, VA
Chris O’Carroll, “Something Like an Apology,” Pelham, MA

A special thank you to our judge, Rebecca Kanan. 

Winners’ List 2013

1st Place   Beth Staas, “Twelfth Night,” Oak Brook, IL.
2nd Place   Barbara Blanks, "After 42 Years,"  Garland, TX.
3rd Place   Dennis R. Patton, "Our Evening Run,"  Alexander, AR.

HM   Ed Werstein, "An Alternate Ending (or Hamlet??),"  Milwaukee, WI.
HM   Jerri Hardesty, "Bright Ribbons,"  Brierfield, AL.
HM   Caroline Sposto, "Of Autumn,"  Memphis, TN.

Special Recognitions:

David M. Harris, "Suburban Epiphany,"  Kingston Springs, TN.
Catherine Chandler, "Persuasion,"  Saint-Lazare, Quebec, Canada
Don Foran, "Moby-Dick Revisited,"  Olympia, WA.