The WCPA is thankful to receive a $10,000 Community Grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation! GWCF operating support will help us focus on our mission to celebrate the rich literary history and creative energy of Central Massachusetts through poetry.
On behalf of the Stanley Kunitz bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Medal committee is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, the eighth to be awarded since 2015.
The medal is presented annually to a person with a strong Worcester County (Massachusetts) connection who best exemplifies Stanley Kunitz’s life-long commitment to poetry and poets. The award recognizes an individual’s total commitment to poetry as Kunitz lived it: teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.
Letters of nomination should provide support explaining how the nominee nurtured poetry as defined above. Because the yearly award is singular and cannot honor all worthy applicants, past nominations may be reactivated for 2022 once the nominators notify the committee chair to keep the nomination active.
Nominations should be mailed to The Stanley Kunitz Medal, c/o Worcester County Poetry Association, P.O. Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613 between December 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. The award announcement will be made in the late spring of 2022, with a ceremony at The Worcester Historical Museum coinciding with Kunitz’s birthday the last week of July. Please visit the Kunitz Medal page for more details.
The 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal committee wishes to recognize and thank the following volunteers who have served to bestow this honor in the past: Rodger Martin, chair (2013-2021), Kent Ljungquist (2017-2021), Karen Sharpe (2019-2021), Robert Steele (2015-2016), E. Robert Cronin (2015-2018).
Respectfully,
Judith Ferrara, Committee Chair – Judy@PaletteAndPen.com -508-757-0524
Joe Fusco, Jr.
John Hodgen
Heather J. Macpherson
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney