Awards


Winograd Finalst for Steinberg Essay Prize May 5, 2011

Kathryn Winograd’s lyric essay, “Heresies of the Holy,” was one of ten finalists for Fourth Genre’s 7th annual Michael Steinberg Essay Prize.


Steensen Wins Flying Guillotine Contest May 10, 2011

Sasha Steensen's chapbook, A History of the Human Family, recently won Flying Guillotine's chapbook contest and was published in February, 2011.


Guenther Wins 2011 CAL Award in Poetry May 14, 2011

Dan Guenther’s collection of selected poems, The Crooked Truth, won the Colorado Authors’ League 2011 Award for a Poetry Book.


Patterson Finalist for Hull Prize June 2, 2011

Veronica Patterson was a finalist for the 2011 Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry prize, sponsored by Crazyhorse magazine.


Bridger Wins Fischer Award June 24, 2011

The top prize winner of the 2011 Mark Fischer Poetry Award, judged by David Feela, is Kiersten Bridger, a Telluride local.


Beer Wins Colorado Book Award August 2, 2011

Nicky Beer won the 2011 Colorado Book Award in Poetry for her book The Diminishing House (Carnegie Mellon University Press). Maria Melendez,Flexible Bones (University of Arizona Press), and Barbara Ellen Sorensen, Song from the Deep Middle Brain (Main Street Rag Publishing Company) were finalists.


Winograd Wins Writers Digest Award August 14, 2011

Kathryn Winograd's poem, "Migrations," has won first place in the non-rhyming poetry category of this year's Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition. She wins “a thousand dollars and a bunch of other stuff”.


Winograd:Notable Essay October 3, 2011


Kathryn Winograd's essay, "Bathing," published in Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, has been named a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2011.



Shavin Pikes Peak Performance Poet October 4, 2011

A jury of peers selected Julie K. Shavin as Pikes Peak Performance Poet of the Year. She, along with others in many art genres, was honored Sept. 23rd, 2011, by the Pikes Peak Arts Council with an award. Julie, also known as Julianza, has been performing her poetry "out of pure love of connecting with an audience via the spoken word" over the past four years. Criteria for this award is both quality of writing and its delivery. Julie also runs an open mic, The Live and Breathe (Poetry) Society, twice monthly in Manitou Springs.


Carr Wins Sawtooth Prize December 9, 2011

Julie Carr’s 100 Notes on Violence won the Sawtooth Poetry Prize and is now available for purchase.


Conde Wins DeMarinis Prize January 11, 2012

Kathy Conde’s short story “Georgia Nights” won CutThroat’s 2011 Rick DeMarinis Short Story Award, it was announced on January, 2012.


Jared Smith Finalist for Snyder January 30, 2012

Jared Smith’s book-length manuscript The Weather Maker was a finalist for this year's Richard Snyder publication prize from Ashland University.


Codhill Press Chapbook Award February 1, 2012

Claudia Putnam (Silt) was a semi-finalist and Bob King (Greeley) a finalist for the 2011 Codhill Press Poetry Chapbook Award.


Allspaw Wins Elixir Press Award February 2, 2012

Susan Allspaw (Aurora) won the Judge's Prize in the Elixir Press 12th Annual Poetry Award for Little Oblivion.


Beachy-Quick in 2011 Notable Books February 6, 2012

Dan Beachy-Quick’s Circle’s Apprentice (Tupelo Press, 2011) was picked as a Notable Book of 2011 by the Academy of American Poets.


Uschuk Wins War Poetry Competition February 20, 2012

Pamela Uschuk of Bayfield won the 10th annual War Poetry Contest for a group of poems. She received $2,000 from Winning Writers who have sponsored the contest for 10 years and are now retiring it.


Winograd Wins Chautauqua Prize June 20, 2012

Kathryn Winograd of Littleton won the 2011 Chautauqua Prize for her poem “the Lives of Cells.” She received $1,000 and the poem will be published in Chautauqua.


Beachy-Quick Wins Book Award June 25, 2012

Dan Beachy-Quick won the 2012 Colorado Book Award for Poetry with Circle's Apprentice in Aspen, June 2012.


Patterson Honorable Mention July 15, 2012

Veronica Patterson received an Honorable Mention (and $200) in the 2012 Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry.


Shavin Wins Hon. Mention July 28, 2012

Julie Shavin won a 2nd Honorable Mention in a National State Federation of Poetry Societies contest. Her poem addressed the issue of religious bigotry within an otherwise beautiful, tiny rural town an hour east of Atlanta, Ga., where she lived for three years in the mid-80's.


Pikes Peak Poetry Awards September 30, 2012

At their annual awards ceremony, on Sept. 21st at Stargazer's Theater in Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Arts Council announced Susan Peiffer as the region's Performance Poet of the Year. Julie K. Shavin was named Page Poet of the Year. The panels/juries had seven members each.

Performances (three poems per poet, in shuffled rounds) took place in June, and page poetry was judged based upon four blind-read submissions per author.


Paulson Honorable Mention October 2, 2012

Beth Paulson received Honorable Mention for her poem "Collage" in the 2012 Common Ground Review Contest.


Kathryn Winograd News October 22, 2012

Kathryn Winograd's poem, "The Lives of Cells," has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Chautauqua Literary Journal. Her lyric essay, "On Wind and Fire," is a semi-finalist for The Florida Review Editors' Award and will be published in an upcoming issue.


Laws, Peiffer Share First Prize in Chapbook Contest October 26, 2012

Poetry West readers have awarded a dual first prize in this year’s chapbook contest to Kyle Laws, for George Sand’s Haiti, and Susan Peiffer, for My Starfish Fingers Fumble: Poems That Thestrals Sing. The two winners will receive a cash award and 25 copies of the chapbook, and members of Poetry West will receive a copy of each chapbook.


Wahtola Trommer & Founder's Award December 2, 2012

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem "Note to Self" won second place in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Founder’s Award Contest. Read it here.
http://www.wordwoman.com/wordsyou/note.self.htm * *


Saner Lifetime Achievement Award April 3, 2013

Reg Saner received the first Chamberlain Award for Lifetime Poetic Achievement at the Chamberlain Poetry Festival in April at Carbondale. For more information on Saner, see his pages on this site.


Abeyta New Western Slope Laureate April 3, 2013

Aaron Abeyta has been chosen as the new poet laureate of the Western Slope. See "Announcements" for more details.


Trommer and Sterne, ACC Contest Winners April 11, 2013

Rosemerry Trommer won 1st place in the 2013 ACC poetry contest with "Doce Pequeños de Nicaragua" and Roseanne Sterne won 2nd place for “Polemic in Blue.”

Finalists were: Ricardo Bogaert-Alvarez, Constance Boyle, Anita Jepson Gilbert, Vicki Mandell-King, Jack Martin, and Sandra McGarry.



Kocher Wins 2013 Dorset Prize May 6, 2013

Ruth Ellen Kocher's new book, domina Un/blued, was selected by Lynn Emanuel for the 2013 Dorset Prize, Tupelo Press.


Tucker Wins Bevel Summers Prize June 7, 2013

The winner of the 2013 Bevel Summers Prize for the Short Short Story is Seth Brady Tucker of Lafayette, Colo., for his narrative "Jigsaw."
Shenandoah editor R. T. Smith called "Jigsaw" "a swift and riveting account of the routine brutality of the Gulf War and its impact on the language, behavior and values of a squad of American soldiers."
The Summers Prize contest is always conducted in March, and the winner receives $1,000 and publication at shenandoahliterary.org, the home site of Washington and Lee University's 63-year-old literary journal.



2013 Fischer Prize Announced June 25, 2013

The Mark Fischer Poetry Prize, offered by Telluride Arts, has been announced for 2013.

First place went to Kyle Harvey for “Hyacinth,” second to Samantha Wright for “The Darkness, Before the Light.” third to Tony Saab for “The Institution of Dichotomy,” and an honorable mention was awarded to Deb Barr for “Elizabeth Greer.”

The Mark Fischer Poetry Prize is named in the memory of Telluride’s much-loved poet, lawyer, skier and raconteur. Mark Fischer was a daring experimenter who combined a polyglot’s command of languages with a quirky sense of humor and a passion for obtuse words.


Collom Wins 2013 Colorado Book Award June 27, 2013

Jack Collom received the 2013 Colorado Book Award in Poetry for his book Second Nature. The award, given by the Colorado Humanities, was announced on June 20 in Aspen. Ten other categories were also awarded.


Parmenter Wins Snowbound Chapbook Award June 28, 2013

Chad Parmenter’s chapbook, Weston’s Unsent Letters to Modotti, has been selected as the winner of the 2012-2013 Snowbound Chapbook Award from Tupelo Press. His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, and Harvard Review.


Hon. Mention for Shavin July 15, 2013

Julie Shavin was awarded an honorable mention in Maine's 2013 National Federation of State Poetry Societies contest for her poem "Water Planet."


Tucker Finalist for Tampa Prize August 29, 2013

Seth Brady Tucker (Lafayette) was a finalist for the 2013 Tampa Review Prize for “We Deserve the Gods We Ask For.” Another Coloradan, Sigman Byrd (Westminster) made the list with “The Blue Heaven of Emptiness.”


Videlock Finalist for Rattle Prize September 15, 2013

Wendy Videlock’s poem, “Of You,” was a finalist for the 2013 Rattle Poetry Prize, it was announced on Sept. 15, 2013.


Kingston Runner-Up September 24, 2013

Kate Kingston's poetry manuscript, History of Grey, placed as a runner-up for the 2013 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award and will be published by Main Street Rag. Pre-sales are now available at a considerable discount at
http://www.mainstreetrag.com/bookstore/product/history-of-grey


Swanson wins Prize Americana for Prose October 11, 2013

The 2013 Prize Americana for Prose has been given to Eleanor Swanson for her short story collection Exiles and Expatriates.


Winograd Gets Pushcart Mention October 22, 2013

Kathryn Winograd just found out her poem "The Lives of Cells," which won the Chautauqua Poetry Contest 2011, is listed among the special mentions in Pushcart Prize XXXVIII.


Koneval Wins Doxa Award November 5, 2013

Poet Amber Koneval has been awarded the 2013 Doxa Award for Poetry for her collection of five poems included in the Fall, 2013, issue of Doxa, Nebraska Christian College’s undergraduate literary magazine. The poems included at “The Widow’s Mite,” “The Road to Jericho,” “Vocation,” “Who are You to Speak of God” and “Consolation.”


Hayna: Life Achievement March 19, 2014

Lois Beebe Hayna, who is now 101, has just been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Colorado Author’s League. More info coming on Author’s League site soon


Patterson Wins Cornerstone Award in Loveland June 22, 2014

Veronica Patterson (Loveland) was the recipient of an inaugural Cornerstone Award on Saturday, June 21, 2014, sponsored by the Arts @ Feed and Grain, “for her commitment to teaching and sharing the literary arts with that community.”

“Winner of national awards and fellowships, including the New York University Press Prize for Poetry and the Colorado Book Award for Poetry, Veronica has clearly achieved excellence in her field. While the list of her published works is long, the list of her efforts to ensure that the literary arts are a vital part of our community’s spirit is equally long, including hosting early literary salons in unlikely and accessible places, organizing Poets in the Park, and teaching writing classes for groups from Pathways Hospice to the Univ. of Northern Colorado to Osher Lifelong Learning institute.”


Gould New Pikes Peak Laureate June 26, 2014

On behalf of the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Project selection committee and program organizers, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) is pleased to announce that Janice Gould has been selected as the 2014-2016 Pikes Peak Poet Laureate. An accomplished poet and educator, Ms. Gould is an associate professor in Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where she developed and directs the concentration in Native American Studies. “I'm honored, very pleased, and looking forward to becoming the next ambassador for poetry in our community,” said Ms. Gould. She will succeed Price Strobridge, who served as Pikes Peak Poet Laureate from 2012-2014.


Videlock: Rattle Finalist September 15, 2014

Wendy Videlock’s poem “The Night Relies” was a finalist for the 2014 Rattle Poetry Prize and is forthcoming in the winter issue.


Kingston 2014 Award Winner September 22, 2014

Kate Kingston is a 2014 Atlanta Review International Publication Prize Winner
for her poem “Xoxocotlán Cemetery.” She was also a 2014 Semifinalist in the Nimrod International Journal Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry for her poem “What Words for God?”


Beachy-Quick Guggenheim Scholar October 28, 2015

Associate Professor of Creative Writing at CSU Dan Beachy-Quick has been named a fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Beachy-Quick was one of 175 scholars, artists and scientists selected to receive a 2015 Guggenheim fellowship and one of 10 recipients in the organization’s poetry category, (there were more than 3,100 applicants). He is the first CSU professor from the humanities to win the prestigious award and only the fourth professor from the university. The award will enable Beachy-Quick, who also is a CSU Monfort professor (he was the first humanities professor to be awarded that title) to spend the next year writing. Read more here:
http://source.colostate.edu/csu-creative-writing-professor-wins-guggenheim-fellowship/


Trommer wins RATTLE Ekphrastic challenge December 29, 2015

Rosenerry Trommer’s “Divining,” winner of the Nov. Rattle ekphrastic challenge may be read here:
http://www.rattle.com/poetry/divining-by-rosemerry-trommer/


Kleeman Wins Blue Mesa Prize March 31, 2016

Lary Kleeman’s poem, "geometries of indifference," won first place in poetry for the 2015 Blue Mesa Summer Writing Contest. It will be published online in issue #32. The prize also includes a $500 award.

Julie Carr judged the poetry and wrote: “Lary Kleeman’s sonnet sequence, “Geometries of Indifference” reminds me of the work of A.R. Ammons: at once ornate and colloquial, formal and playful. The poem meanders easily between the present, the remembered and the imagined, keeping the reader off-kilter but returning her again and again to the stability of the real thing – melon, turtle dove, body, sage, and pine: language is sensation and the senses speak a language Kleeman knows how to read. Complex, rich, and delightful.”


Klawitter Poem on Display March 31, 2016

Daniel Klawitter shares good news about one of the poems from his new book, A Poet Playing Doctor. His "Lunch at Corafaye's" was one of 11 poems chosen out of 150 submissions to be paired with a photographer and shown on display at the Norton Center in Kentucky from early summer through December 2016. Congratulations, Dan!


CAL Winners Announced July 24, 2016

The Colorado Author’s League has awarded Dan Gunther’s poem ”When the Owl Came to Gunnamatta Park” best of the year in the single poem category and Lois Beebe Hayna’s Moon-Hung Midnights as the best poetry collection.


Beer Wins Colo. Poetry Award December 3, 2016

Nicky Beer’s book (The Octopus Game,Carnegie Mellon) has won the 2016 Colorado Book Award in Poetry. The finalists included Dan Beachy-Quick, Stephanie Ford, and Martin McGovern.


Willard Wins 2017 Breckenridge Residency December 13, 2016

Ft. Collins poet, Kathleen Willard, author of Cirque & Sky, has just been awarded the 2017 Breckenridge Artists Residency for Poetry


2017 Fledge Poetry Chapbook Award April 3, 2017

Colorado Poet Tony Burfield's manuscript Sawhorse, a collection of haibun concerning he and his wife moving into a new home in the foothills of Colorado, is the winner of the 2017 Fledge Poetry Chapbook Award. Sawhorse will be released in April, 2017 as an ECO/CO Book by Middle Creek Publishing & Audio.


Michael Adams Poetry Prize October 15, 2017

The City of Lafayette Arts and Cultural Resources is sponsoring the "Michael Adams Poetry Prize" and entries are due by Friday, November 3.  This year's competition is open to all English and Spanish poets as well as English and Spanish Spoken Word Poets.  Named in honor of the late poet Michael Adams, the Michael Adams Poetry Prize (MAPP) aims to cultivate and inspire poetry while celebrating Lafayette's commitment to community arts. Up to $1600 in prize money will be awarded at the public reading on November 18, 7-9 p.m. at the Collective, 201 North Public Road.

MAPP is open to all Colorado adult and high school poets. The theme of this year's competition is "Social Justice" and/or "The Natural World." Prizes will be awarded in English Written Word, Spanish Written Word, English Spoken Word, and Spanish Spoken Word. Adult entries require a $10 entry fee; high school student entries are free. Entry forms and additional information may be found at www.cityoflafayette.com/MAPP.