Listed by Category
Chicago
Judge: Mario Smith
1st Place: N.A. Gorman, “Lake Michigan”
2nd Place: Kathryn P. Haydon, “Boxing Names”
3rd Place: E.J. Wade, “This Place”
1st Honorable Mention: Cassandra McGovern, “Saturday Mornings at the Avalon Theater”
2nd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris, “At the Art Institute”
3rd Honorable Mention: Mike O’Leary, “Rooted: A Goodbye Letter to Chicago”
Ekphrastic
Judge: Judith Rycroft
1st Place: Maureen Tolman Flannery, “Vagabond”
2nd Place: Barbara Blanks, “Wings of Grief”
3rd Place: Carissa Coane, “Annunciation”
1st Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris, “Painting Shoes”
2nd Honorable Mention: Stephanie DuPont, “Camera Strings”
3rd Honorable Mention: Cynthia Gallaher, “After Franz Marc’s ‘The Bewitched Mill’ 1913”
Exploring
Judge: Marilyn Wolf
1st Place: Marianne Peel (KY), “Before You Were a Daffodil”
2nd Place: E.J. Wade, “Origin”
3rd Place: Maureen Tolman Flannery, “Learning to Know the Heavens”
1st Honorable Mention: Tracy Davidson, “Through the Window”
2nd Honorable Mention: Jerri Hardesty, “The Tourist”
3rd Honorable Mention: Catherine Moran, “All the mysteries of love”
Free Verse
Judge: John Hinton
1st Place: Catherine Moran, “Taking Away the Junk”
2nd Place: Mike Orlock, “Itty Bitty Blue Budgie”
3rd Place: Marianne Peel, “Teach Me to Dance Because Bodies Never Lie”
1st Honorable Mention: Melissa Huff, “Musings on the Body”
2nd Honorable Mention: Karian Markos, “The Sound of One Hand Clapping”
3rd Honorable Mention: Paul Buchheit, “Train Station”
Formal verse
Judge: Carla Hagen
1st Place: Marianne Peel, “My Tongue Carbon Dates Your Skin: A Modern Triple Sonnet”
2nd Place: Candace Armstrong,” Putin’s Daughter”
3rd Place: Barbara Lydecker Crane, “Don’t Tell Dad”
1st Honorable Mention: Nick Sweet, “Aunt Sue — Then/Now”
2nd Honorable Mention: Sarah A. Rae, “Dream with Steak, Watermelon, and Flatbed Truck”
3rd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris, “Sweet Georgia Brown”
Humorous
Judge: John Milkereit
1st Place: Lynn Aprill, “Ghazal to the Potato (ala Reddit)”
2nd Place: Caroline Johnson, “Ode to Fat”
3rd Place: Catherine Moran, “Balancing out the quirks”
1st Honorable Mention: Jocelyn Ajami, “Eggphrastic”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lynda La Rocca, “This Is Also Just to Say”
3rd Honorable Mention: Gail Denham, “Pay Attention, If You Can”
Miniature
Judge: Barbara Hay
1st Place: Melissa Huff, “Learning from Landscape”
2nd Place: Karian Markos, “Extinction”
3rd Place: Lorraine Jeffrey, “Words”
1st Honorable Mention: Kathryn P. Haydon, “Summer’s Last Stand”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lynn Aprill, “Superstitious”
3rd Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Stanley King, “Burn”
Music
Judge: Joe Cavanaugh
1st Place: Amy Fogerson, “Why We Do It”
2nd Place: William T. Carey, “In Bed with Yo-Yo”
3rd Place: Caroline Johnson, “Nocturne in Eb Major”
1st Honorable Mention: Marianne Peel, “We Were Supposed to Say Goodbye”
2nd Honorable Mention: Maureen Tolman Flannery, “Unique Arrangement”
3rd Honorable Mention: Nancy Cook, “Galway Jammin”
Nature
Judge: Michael Spears
1st Place: Kathryn P. Haydon, “Formation”
2nd Place: Amy Fogerson, “Leaf”
3rd Place: Daniel Moreschi, “Cyclical Odysseys”
1st Honorable Mention: Barbara Blanks, “Antarctic Paradise”
2nd Honorable Mention: Carole Novak, “Winter Sunrise”
3rd Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Stanley King, “Zen of Rain”
Regrets
Judge: Sal Marici
1st Place: Lynn Aprill, “The Assignment”
2nd Place: Kathryn P. Haydon, “Teshuvah”
3rd Place: Kate Hutchinson, “Child Is Father to the Mom”
1st Honorable Mention: Lorraine Jeffrey, “Next Time”
2nd Honorable Mention: Catherine Moran, “Left in the Silence of the Past”
3rd Honorable Mention: Caroline Johnson, “Solidarity with a Schizophrenic”
Rodents
Judge: Susan Chambers
1st Place: Jerri Hardesty, “Sprinklers”
2nd Place: Wilda Morris, “After Expressway Construction Destroyed Habitat”
3rd Place: Maureen Tolman Flannery, “Circulation”
1st Honorable Mention: Mike Orlock, “The Felled”
2nd Honorable Mention: Monica Cardestam, “haiku: “smug little bastard …”
3rd Honorable Mention: Kate Hutchinson, “Uninvited Guests”
Social Conscience/Social Justice-Still Waiting on Results
Judge: Hana Fadness
1st Place: Marianne Peel, “Pomegranates, Avocados, and Figs”
2nd Place: Stephanie DuPont, “Daylight Dims”
3rd Place: E.J. Wade, “Dismantled”
1st Honorable Mention: Charles Kouri, “i was hers to decide”
2nd Honorable Mention: Lynn Aprill, “Damage”
3rd Honorable Mention: Wilda Morris, “Sisters in Silence”