Contest

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize for 2025 and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you in February 2026. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our seventh annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, George Bilgere!

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Winners:

GRAND PRIZE
John Arthur (New Jersey) for Lucy the Elephant Wins in a Landslide
(selected by Guest Judge, George Bilgere)

EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD
Katie Dozier (Texas) for All That Glitter
(selected by Shawn Aveningo Sanders)

DESIGNER’S CHOICE AWARD
John Wojtowicz (New Jersey) for No Lightsabers in the Kitchen
(selected by Robert Sanders)

 

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Finalists:

Lana Hechtman Ayers (Oregon) for Sky Over

Meredith Kirkwood (Oregon) for The Zero Womb

Maren O. Mitchell (Georgia) for A Letter Opener

Ralph Savarese (Iowa) for Yours by Blood

Laurel Szymkowiak (Pennsylvania) for Agnes

Evan Vandermeer (Tennessee) for Circling Back

Ellen Waterston (Oregon) for So Far as I Can Anthem

Cecilia Woloch (California) for I Spent the Summer in Chengdu

 

(We will be open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2024)

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize for 2024 and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you in February 2025. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our seventh annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, Donna Hilbert!

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Winners:

GRAND PRIZE
Flavian Mark Lupinetti (New Mexico) for The Pronunciation Part
(selected by Guest Judge, Donna Hilbert)

EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD
Laura Foley (New Hampshire) for Ice Cream for Lunch: A Grandparents Handbook
(selected by Shawn Aveningo Sanders)

DESIGNER’S CHOICE AWARD
Allison Thorpe (Kentucky) for A Girl, Her Slipper and Yesterday’s Rainbow
(selected by Robert Sanders)

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Finalists:

Amy Baskin (Oregon) for Skull

Abby Caplin (California) for Blue Marble

Meredith Kirkwood (Oregon) for Alertness Seems Called For

Robin Michel (California)
for Crossing a Threshold into the Marriage of Our Two Selves

Gus Peterson (Maine) for Undiagnosed

Shawn Pittard (California) for Witness

Stephen Reilly (Florida) for Widower

Trinity Tibe (Georgia)

for My Blood Must Have Something to Do with Me

 

(We will be open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2024)

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize for 2023 and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you in February. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our third annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, Andrea Hollander!

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Finalists:

The Mother/Daughter Papers by Gail Rudd Entrekin (CA)

Currents for Jellyfish by Briana Fischella (FL)

Journey of Trees by Susan Landgraf (WA)

The Last Angels by Richard Lyons (TN)

Now Is What Matters by Janet Steward (WA)

Beguiled by Ingrid Wendt (OR)

The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dogen by James K. Zimmerman (NY)

Rescue Dogs by Fred Zirm (MD)

(We will be open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2024)

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize for 2022 and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you this Winter. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our third annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, James Crews!

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Finalists:

Devon Balwit of Portland, OR  for Teaching Is a Bloody Business

Luanne Castle of Phoenix, AZ for Our Wolves

Margaret Chula of Portland, OR for Weeding the Labyrinth

Mary Cronin of Harwich, MA for Unity Hospital

Matthew Farr of Centennial, CO for Endure Until Dead

Susan Johnson of Roslyn, WA for The Call Home

Becky Dennison Sakellariou of Petersborough, NH for Until the Tree Grows, Towering

Penelope Scambly Schott of Dufur, OR for gOD

(We will be open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2023)

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you this Winter. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our third annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, Annie Lighthart!

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Finalists:

Melissa Balmain of Rochester, NY
for Satan Talks to His Therapist: The Lighter Side of a Year in Hell

Beth Bonness of Portland, OR
for Transition Thunderstorms

Anne Coray of Port Alsworth, AK
for Late Fall Bucolics

Ann Farley of Beaverton, OR
for Tell Her Yes

Mimi German of Portland, OR
for Eyes of Horse Hair
retitled/published as Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars

David Kann of Walnut Creek, CA
for Forward Spotter

Juan Pablo Mobili of Valley Cottage, NY
for Contraband

Penelope Scambly Schott of Dufur & Portland, OR
for Inside the Green Birdhouse

Ben Sloan of Charlottesville, VA
for The Snow in Poland, 1942

(We will be open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2022)

We are very excited to announce the winners of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize and look forward to sharing their chapbooks with you this Winter. Thank you to all of the poets who entered our third annual contest.

And special thanks to our wonderful judge, Amy Miller!

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FIRST PLACE

Tiel Aisha Ansari
of Portland, OR

for
The Day of My First Driving Lesson

Learn more about Tiel’s winning chapbook HERE

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SECOND PLACE

Marcia B. Loughran
of Astoria, NY

for
My Mother Never Died Before & Other Poems

Learn more about Marcia’s winning chapbook HERE

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THIRD PLACE

C.W. Emerson
of Palm Springs, CA

for
Off Coldwater Canyon

Learn more about C.W’s winning chapbook HERE

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Other Finalists:

Kathy Ackerman of Rutherford, NC for Repeat After Me

Dan Clark of Kennewick, WA for Some Otherwhere

Michael S. Glaser of St. Mary’s City, MD for What the Ocean Knows

Marilyn Johnston of Salem, OR for When I Could Climb Free

Linda Johnston Muhlhausen of Red Bank, NJ for White

J.I. Kleinberg of Bellingham, WA for The Word for Standing Alone in a Field

Michelle Lerner of Flanders, NJ for Protection

Christopher Luna of Vancouver, WA for Secret Teacher
published as full-length collection, Exchanging Wisdom

Deborah Meltvedt of Sacramento, CA for California Girl-Woman
published as Building a Woman

Dianne Stepp of Portland, OR for Braced for Landing

(We will open again for contest submissions in Feb, 2021)