The Frank O’Hara Prize

Submissions for the 2026 Annual Contest Are Open!

Click Here for 2026 Contest Guidelines.

The WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize is open to all members, Worcester County residents and students, and employees of Worcester County businesses. Winning poems are published in The Worcester Review, and the poets are honored with a winners’ reading.

The contest opens for submissions in January each year, closes on March 31st, and winners are normally notified by the end of June. A Winners’ Reading is held in September.

Contest History

The Annual Poetry Contest is one of the earliest annual events established by the Association. It seeks to highlight and recognize the diverse poetic voices of central Massachusetts through publication and public readings.

In a ceremony held at The Worcester Art Museum on November 19, 2009, the Worcester County Poetry Association’s annual poetry contest, established in 1973, was renamed the “The WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize“ in honor of central Massachusetts born poet Frank O’Hara, and grateful recognition of The O’Hara Family for its support of the literary community.

American Poet Frank O’Hara (1926-1966) grew up in Grafton, Massachusetts, attended St. John’s High School in Worcester, and studied piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston. After serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, O’Hara returned to musical studies at Harvard through the GI Bill. His love of contemporary music and visual art led to an interest in poetry. Frank O’Hara graduated from Harvard in 1950 with a degree in English, attended graduate school at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and moved to New York, where he found work at the Museum of Modern Art. O’Hara had known John Ashbery at Harvard and joined Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and others in what became known as the New York School of Poets. O’Hara’s Meditations in an Emergency (1956) and Lunch Poems (1964) reflect the inspiring energy and excitement of the New York art scene, which included literary friends and artists such as Larry Rivers, Jackson Pollock, and Jasper Johns. O’Hara wrote essays and reviews for ArtNews, as well as writing for various Museum of Modern Art publications. Frank O’Hara died in an accident while vacationing on Fire Island.

Photos from the 2023 O’Hara Prize Winners Reading

Previous Winners & Judges

YearFirst Place WinnerContest JudgeThe Worcester Review Issue
2025Anthony DiPietroDeMisty BellingerVolume XLVI
2024Paul SzlosekDennis BaroneVolume XLV
2023Rebecca CrossKaren SkofieldVolume XLIV
2022Jennifer FreedUsman HameediVolume XLIII
2021Dean GesiePam BernardVolume XLII
2020Lynn E. FrederiksenDoug HolderVolume XLI
2019Carolyn OliverRachel McKibbensVolume XL
2018Jeff WaltRegie GibsonVolume XXXIX
2017Richard FoxLori DesrosiersVolume XXXVIII
2016Heather TreselerHenry WaltersVolume XXXVIII
2015Emily FerraraDawn PotterVolume XXXVI
2014Helen Marie CaseyBJ WardVolume XXXV
2013Ann SweetmanAlice B. FogelVolume XXXIV
2012Dan LewisLloyd SchwartzVolume XXXIII
2011Patricia YoungbloodGary LenhartVolume XXXII
2010Curt CurtinBarbara Helfgott HyettVolume XXXI
2009Francine D’AlessandroJames HaugVolume XXX
2008Carle JohnsonDara WeirVolume XXIX
2007Kat O’ConnorChard DeNiordVolume XXVIII
2006David ThoreenPatricia FargnoliVolume XXVII
2005Susan Elizabeth SweeneyPeter JohnsonVolume XXVI
2004Judith FerraraMargaret GibsonVolume XXV
2003Clair Mowbray GoldingJeffrey HarrisonVolume XXIV
2002Anita OuelletteSue StandingVolume XXIII
2001Jonathan BlakeDonald BakerVolume XXII
2000Peter Clement DavisDeborah DiggesVolume XXI
1999Leigh A. EmeryWesley McNairVolume XX
1998Juli NunlistRuth WhitmanVolume XIX
1997Karen HartHugh OgdenVolume XVIII
1996Kathleen L. VincentJulia OlderVolume XVII
1995Alan AlbertThomas LuxVolume XVI
1994Tony BrownOlga BroumasVolume XVI
1993Donald BakerStephen TapscottVolume XV
1992Susan Roney O’BrienMary OliverVolume XIV
1991Fred MarchantChris GilbertVolume XIII
1990Christopher E. PhillipsChris GilbertVolume XII
1989Stuart PeterfreundRussell EdsonVolume XI