
Category: Contest
Annual Contest Winners for 2021
Category 1: Margo LaGattuta Memorial Award: Judge: Joy Gaines-Friedler
1st I’d Have Painted Him in Altenburg,… Lynn Pattison, Kalamazoo, MI
2nd Antinomy Thom Porter, Woodhaven, MI
3rd Reverie at Slack Time Dr. Emory Jones, Iuka MS
HM Premonition Lori Zurvalec, Grosse Pointe, MI
Category 2: Chancellor’s Prize: Judge: Eric Torgersen
1st How Will I Find Absolution Diana Hart, Kalamazoo, MI
2nd Current Resume Art Curtis, Bellaire, MI
3rd You Don’t Know Colleen Alles, Grand Rapids, MI
HM The Girl with a Green and a Brown Eye Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
Category 3: Founder’s Prize: Judge: Russell Thorburn
1st Michigan State Fair 1960’s Roberta Brown , Royal Oak, MI
2nd Skinny Dipping at Cranbrook Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
3rd Leaving Tawas, July 3rd Christian Belz, Pontiac, MI
HM New Buffalo Cassandra Caverhill, Ann Arbor, MI
Category 4: Barbara Sykes Memorial Humor Poem: Judge: Elizabeth Kerlikowske
1st You Probably Are One Too Laura Sweeney, Bloomington, IL
2nd Learning to Sit Ann Weil, Ann Arbor, MI
3rd Shifting Gears Milton Bates, Marquette, MI
HM Not Yet Robotic Robert Erlandson, Birmingham, MI
Category 5: George Dila Memorial Prose Poem: Judge: Robert Fanning
1st Toad Dawn McDuffie, Detroit, MI
2nd Home Visit Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
3rd Churned Terry Jude Miller, Richmond, TX
HM Sea of Stars Simon A. Thalmann, Kalamazoo, MI
Category 6: Nature: Judge: Alinda Wasner
1st Wingbound II: Elegy Shy of Lamentation Barbara Saunier, Marne, MI
2nd Call Winter Home Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
3rd Swarm Warning Iris Underwood, Leonard, MI
HM Japanese Maple Diana Dinverno, Troy, MI
Category 7: Love: Judge: Sue William Silverman
1st The World Will Always Welcome Lovers Barbara Saunier, Marne, MI
2nd What Her Eyes Did Randy K. Schwartz, Ann Arbor, MI
3rd Bringing Late Lorraine Jeffery, Orem, UT
HM A Sort of Love Poem John Jeffire, Macomb, MI
Category 8: Music: Judge: M. L. Liebler
1st Song and Dance Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
2nd Music Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
3rd The House That Jack Built Sold On Jazz, Diana Cornell, Spring Lake, MI
HM Player of Player Pianos, a Love Poem, Sophia Rivkin, Southfield, MI
Category 9: Loss: Judge: Zilka Joseph
1st New Widow Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
2nd Mothers Claire Scott, Oakland, CA
3rd Noise Trek Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
HM there, then David Fitch, Lathrup Village, MI
Category 10: Women and Science: Judge: Diane DeCillis
1st Fluids Leak Like Rivers Nadia Ibrashi, Troy, MI
2nd I Am a Standard Candle Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
3rd Brushstrokes and Stars Carla Dodd, Waterford Township, MI
HM Peggy Whitson Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
Congrtulations winners and thank you to all who entered!
Poem in Which the Poem Works Very Hard to Identify Itself / Kristen Brace
Midland / Nancy Cook
Window / Patricia Barnes
Rust Belt / Randy K. Schwartz
Farm Scene at Dusk / Sarah E. Moran
Poetry Society of Michigan 2020 Contest Winners
Category 1: Margo LaGatutta Memorial Award
Judge: Daniel Edward Moore
1st Rust Belt Randy K. Schwartz, Ann Arbor, MI
2nd All Night the Rain Kristin Brace, Ada, MI
3rd November Jack D. Ferguson, Auburn Hills, MI
HM Rock, Paper, Scissors Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
Category 2: Chancellor’s Prize
Judge: Laurence W. Thomas
1st Window Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
2nd Good Fencing Lorraine Jeffery, Orem, UT
3rd The Poet Goes Prospecting Randy K. Schwartz, Ann Arbor, MI
HM The Staunch Listener Inge Logenburg Kyler, Eaton Rapids, MI
Category 3: Founder’s Prize
Judge: Dennis Hinrichsen
1st Midland Nancy Cook, St. Paul, MN
2nd Water, Water Everywhere… Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
3rd Jack Pine Savage Ellen Lord, Charlevoix, MI
HM October, Southeast Michigan Dawn McDuffie, Detroit, MI
Category 4: Barbara Sykes Memorial Humor Poem
Judge: Elizabeth Kerlikowske
1st Poem in Which the Poem Works Very Hard… Kristin Brace, Ada, MI
2nd I Explain to My Great Grandpa Lorraine Jeffery, Orem, UT
3rd Sounding the Alarm Lynne Fernandez, Farmington Hills, MI
HM Transformation Marilyn Churchill, Ann Arbor, MI
Category 5: George Dila Memorial Prose Poem
Judge: Phillip Sterling
1st A Man and His Game David James, Linden, MI
2nd pang Diana Hart, Kalamazoo, MI
3rd Dear Therapist, Patricia Barnes, Wyandotte, MI
HM Velvet Ear Jill Doster Marcusse, Grand Rapids, MI
Category 6: Nature
Judge: Jerrold Narland
1st Lucky 13 Terry Jude Miller, Richmond, TX
2nd Backyard Nature Sue Yurick, Rockford, MI
3rd Winter Snowfall Cynthia Weber Nankee, Canton, MI
HM Lost Mountain Lori Goff, Walled Lake, MI
Category 7: Love
Judge: Diane DeCillis
1st Alien Lover Dawn McDuffie, Detroit, MI
2nd Redolent Diana Dinverno, Troy, MI
3rd Autumn Garden Jack D. Ferguson, Auburn Hills, MI
HM Falling Christian Belz, Berkley, MI
Category 8: Pandemic
Judge: Terry Jude Miller
1st Counting Marie Davids, Ferndale, MI
2nd Maybe Eric Greene, Royal Oak, MI
3rd Languor Garrett Stack, Rockford, MI
HM Monthursday, Frisunday, April? Carla Dodd, Waterford, MI
When She Weeps / Nancy Cook
One of Chancellor’s prize winning poems from the fall contest issue of Peninsula Poets by Nancy Cook of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Stones / Myra Ward Barra
Another prize winning poem from The Poetry Society of Michigan Annual Poetry Contest, this one from the “Love” category.





