2023 Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award
Deadline: Postmarked by January 31, 2024
Entry fee: $25 (or $15 for members of Arts + Literature Laboratory)
The Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award is presented for a group of five poems, one of which must be published in a literary journal or anthology in the contest year. Four of the five poems may be unpublished, self-published, appear in locally produced broadsides, or published this year or in a prior year. See full contest guidelines.
- First Place: $500 award and five-day stay at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, WI ($895 value)
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Honorable Mention: $50 and a five-day stay at Ernest Hüpeden's Painted Forest in Valton, WI ($800 value)
2023 Judge: Tara Betts
Dr. Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit, Arc & Hue, and Refuse to Disappear. In addition to her work as a teaching artist and mentor for young poets, she has taught at several universities, including Rutgers University and University of Illinois-Chicago. Recently, she taught poetry workshops for three years at Stateville Prison via Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project. Dr. Betts is Poetry Editor at The Langston Hughes Review. She is also in the process of establishing the nonprofit organization The Whirlwind Learning Center on Chicago’s South Side.
History
Lorine Niedecker [pronounced NEE dicur] (1903-1970) was born on Blackhawk Island near Fort Atkinson, where she lived for most of her life. After two years at Beloit College, she returned home and began writing poetry, supporting herself by proofreading, writing for a radio station, and even cleaning hospital floors. At first, her work was influenced by Imagist and Objectivist poets, but she gradually developed her own voice and style, characterized by spare language, subtle rhythms, and stark, vivid imagery. During her lifetime, she published her four poetry books at infrequent intervals (New Goose in 1946 and My Friend Tree in 1962), although she was a regular contributor to literary magazines. Since her death, the publication of four additional books, her Collected Works (2002), in particular, has contributed to her reputation as a original and significant voice in contemporary American poetry.
Previous winners:
2022
First Place: “Barn Swallows” and other poems (Sky Island Journal), by Angela Williamson Emmert, Manawa, WI
Angela Williamson Emmert’s work has appeared in About Place Journal, Great Lakes Review, Prime Number Magazine, Sky Island Journal, Marathon Review, Stillwater Review, and other places. A member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, she holds an MFA from University of Southern Maine and makes her home in rural Wisconsin with her husband and sons.
Honorable Mention: “Lake Edge, January” (The Hopper) and other poems, by Heather Swan, Madison, WI
Heather Swan's creative nonfiction has appeared in Aeon, Belt, Catapult, ISLE, Edge Effects, Emergence, and Minding Nature. Her book Where Honeybees Thrive: Stories from the Field won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. Her poems have appeared in such journals as About Place, Cold Mountain Review, The Hopper, One Art, Phoebe, Poet Lore, Midwestern Gothic, The Raleigh Review, and Terrain, and have been included in several anthologies. Her collection A Kinship with Ash (Terrapin Books) was a finalist for the ASLE Book Award and the Julie Suk Award. Her chapbook, The Edge of Damage (Parallel Press) won the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Award. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin Madison where she teaches writing and environmental literature.
2019
David Southward, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Bruce Taylor, Chippewa Fall
s
2018
Kathryn Gahl, Appleton
Honorable Mention: Eileen Mattmann, West Bend
2017
Ed Werstein, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Margaret Benbow, Madison
2016
David Southward, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Georgia Ressmeyer, Sheboygan
2015
John K. Walser, Fond du Lac
Susan Elbe, Madison
2014
Cathryn Cofell, Appleton
Honorable Mention: DeWitt Clinton, Shorewood
2013
Jeanie Tomasko, Middleton
Honorable Mention: Rita Mae Reese, Madison
2012
Kara Candito, Madison
Honorable Mention: Amie Whittemore, Racine
2011
Sarah Busse, Madison
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
2010
David Krump, La Crosse
Honorable Mention: Catherine Jagoe, Madison
2009
Angela Sorby, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Catherine Jagoe, Madison
2008
Susan Firer, Whitefish Bay
Honorable Mention: Cathryn Cofell, Appleton
2007
David Krump, La Crosse
2006
Susan Elbe, Madison
Honorable Mention: Harriet Brown, Madison
Honorable Mention: Anjie Greene-Martin, Palmyra
2005
Alison Townsend, Stoughton
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
Honorable Mention: Susan Firer, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Karla Huston, Appleton
2004
Karl Elder, Howards Grove
Honorable Mention: Kathryn Gahl, Two Rivers
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
2003
Michael Kriesel, Aniwa
Honorable Mention: Wendy Vardaman, Madison
Honorable Mention: Robin Chapman, Madison
2002
Anne-Marie Cusac, Madison
Honorable Mention: Elaine Cavanaugh, Hartland
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