WFOP Contest Results

2022 Results

TRIAD CONTEST

66 people entered the Triad. Poets’ Choice had the most entries with 59. Theme had 53. There were 20 in the Kay Saunders Memorial Emerging Poet category. Barbara Crooker judged Poets’ Choice, Marjorie Maddox judged Theme, and Julie Moore judged the Kay Saunders Memorial Emerging Poet category.

Kay Saunders’s Memorial Emerging Poet

1st Place: Heather Hanlon for Dreams
2nd Place: Sara Sarna for Mid-Country Love Story
3rd Place: Angela Hoffman for Grackles in Ukraine
Honorable Mentions: Meredith Mason for According to Her Lights and Ed Block for Rondeau

Poets’ Choice

1st Place: Joan Wiese Johannes for On Your 95th Birthday, You Tell Me
2nd Place: Scott Lowery for To Sleeplessness
3rd Place: David Southward for Pilgrimage
Honorable Mentions: Gail Sosinsky for How to Leave Your Husband, Jeanie Tomasko for All the Tiny Sounds and Sandy Stark for Praise All Unnoticed Things

Theme: Primary Colors

1st Place: Jenna Rindo for Covid Colors
2nd Place: Annette Grunseth for Ekphrastic Blue
3rd Place: Angela M. Williamson Emmert for Ode to My Feet: A Prayer of Thanksgiving
Honorable Mentions: Scott Lowery for Until Further Notice, James P. Roberts for Golden Fields and Kathleen Serley for Shadows

CHAPBOOK PRIZE

1st Prize: John Fritzell, Thuribles
2nd Prize: Peggy Trojan, Pa
3rd Prize: R.B. Simon, The Good Truth

Honorable Mention

Emily Bowles, The Satisfactory Nothing of Girls

MUSE PRIZE

1st Place: “You should always keep it ready,” Peter Blewett
2nd Place: “El Ultimo Para Hoy,” Yvette Viets Flaten
3rd Place: “Rip it, Rip it,” Maureen Adams

Honorable Mentions

“A certain teacher sends us,” Jeri McCormick
“Trimming the Tree,” Jan Chronister
“Wistful,” Karen Haley

Marjorie Saiser, Muse Prize Judge:

Marjorie Saiser is the author of eight books of poetry (Bones of a Very Fine Hand 1999, Lost in Seward Country 2001, Beside You at the Stoplight 2010, Losing the Ring in the River 2013, I Have Nothing to Say about Fire 2016, The Woman in the Moon 2018, Learning to Swim 2019 and most recently The Track the Whales Make: New and Selected Poems 2021) and co-editor of Road Trips Conversations with Writers (with Shelly Clark). Her work can be read in over thirty-five publications including American Life in Poetry,Nimrod, Rattle.com, PoetryMagazine.com, RHINO, Chattahoochee Review, Poetry East, and Poet Lore. She has received the WILLA Award, The Academy of American Poets Prize, The Vreelands Award, and two nominations (and one special mention) for the Pushcart Prize. You can find selections of her poetry on her homepage www.poetmarge.com.

STUDENT CONTEST
All winners receive a complimentary copy of the 2023 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar in which their poems will be published.

JUNIOR DIVISION, Grades 6-8 (26 schools, 35 instructors, 127 accepted entries)

First Place Middle School
“Fall Night” Sierra Zoromski Grade 6 Paul Walter Instructor Slinger MS Slinger

Second Place Middle School
“Inside a Cat’s Head” Mei Dryer 7th Grade Jody Steidl Instructor Hamilton Middle School Madison

Third Place Middle School
“On the Hill” Reese Koch 6th Grade Paige Jackan Instructor Wisconsin Rapids MS Wisconsin Rapids

Honorable Mentions Middle School
“Forest” Eibhlin Covey Grade 6 Bryant Ward Instructor Waunakee Intermediate School Waunakee
“Can Everything Fly?” Ella Reichle Grade 6 Paul Walter Instructor Slinger MS Slinger
“Memories” by Elizabeth Logan Grade 8 Home Schooled Prescott

SENIOR DIVISION, Grades 9-12 (42 schools, 52 instructors, 268 accepted entries)

First Place High School
“26 Things to Liquify” Mya Koffie 11th Grade Aaron Ramponi Instructor Appleton North HS Appleton

Second Place High School
“Fall” Won-Whi Autumn Lee Grade 12 Jamie Silver Instructor Brookfield Central HS Brookfield

Third Place High School
“Clear-Cut” Melia Wendt 11th Grade Pauline Moran Instructor Appleton East HS Appleton

High School Honorable Mentions
“Green Thumb” Marissa Schmitt Grade 10 Betsy Brooks Instructor Kaukauna HS Kaukauna
“Self Perception” Kasia Janicki Grade 12 Nicole Reetz Instructor Lincoln HS Wisconsin Rapids
“Charybdis” Leah Johnson Grade 11 Gillian Gosman Instructor Brookfield Academy Brookfield

Judge:

Katie Vagnino Katie Vagnino is a poet, educator, and writer currently based in Minneapolis, MN. She earned her MFA from Emerson College and has taught creative writing at UW-Eau Claire, the Loft Literary Center, and many other places. Katie has written everything from essays and criticism to opera librettos and exhibition catalogs. Her poems have appeared in more than a dozen literary journals and have been featured on public transit. Her debut poetry collection Imitation Crab was published by Finishing Line Press in February of 2021.