67th Poetry Contest
Winners Announced!

2023 Poetry Contest Winners

Congratulations to all the winning poets!

And many thanks to our judges for donating their time and expertise.

#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”