Announcing the 2023 Dan Lewis Fellow: Laura DiCaronimo

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Extra Extra: READ ALL ABOUT IT

Judges have selected Hubbardston, Massachusetts, resident Laura DiCaronimo as the first recipient of the annual Dan Lewis Poetry Fellowship.

DiCaronimo, a Fitchburg State alum, runs The Openest Mic as a way to bring poets together in community. She said, “I am personally proud that ten of the sixty-five participants have never publicly read before; the energy in those rooms is just that good.”

DiCaronimo, whose poetry has been featured in the Rain Poetry project on Worcester sidewalks noted, “I’ve been creating connections:  Poets are collaborating on rap tracks! Politicians running for office have written beautiful poems about their home cities and city councilors have used ‘The Openest’ part of the Openest Mic to perform spoken word pieces about the closing of a local hospital.”

DiCaronimo, who is also licensed optician, said she plans to use much of the $2,500 fellowship to further that commitment to creating a poetry community.

The fellowship was created in memory of poet Dan Lewis to support the poetry aspirations of a poet residing in Worcester County when there may be limited other opportunities for support of those endeavors. DiCaronimo will receive the award at the annual meeting of the Worcester County Poetry Association. On Sunday, March 3rd from 2-4pm at The Salisbury House Ball Room, 61 Harvard Street, Worcester, MA. The public is welcome to attend.

Her selection was a unanimous decision by judges Kyle Potvin, Exeter, N.H., poet; Tony Brown, Uxbridge, Mass., poet; and Rodney Obien, archivist, The Monadnock Special Poetry Collection, Keene State College, Keene, N.H.

More information about the fellowship and the Worcester County Poetry Association, Inc., a 503-C charitable corporation, can be found at On Our WEBSITE

 

FINAL WEEK for the Frank O’Hara Prize Submissions and FINAL WEEK for Kunitz Medal Nominations

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Deadline for our Frank O’Hara Poetry Prize as well as Stanley Kunitz Medal Nominations are fast approaching.

For the Frank O’Hara Prize: If you have a poem (or string of poems) that you’d like considered for the prize, please submit by March 31st.

To submit to the O’Hara Prize, please click here.

For the Stanley Kunitz Medal Nominations: If you know someone who would be a great nominee, please consider submitting by March 31st.

To nominate someone for the Kunitz Medal, please email our Judy at judy@paletteandpen.com

If you miss this deadline, April will indeed be the cruelest month.

Announcing the Winners of the 2021 WCPA Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

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2021 contest winner Dean Gessie

The Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA) is pleased to announce that Dean Gessie of Midland, Ontario, Canada, has won this year’s WCPA Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize. His poem “Diary of a Dead Eel Boy” was selected by contest judge Pam Bernard from the 191 poems submitted by 69 entrants.

Dean Gessie is a widely acclaimed author and poet who has won or placed in more than 80 international competitions. Gessie won the Enizagam International Poetry Contest in California and he was selected for inclusion by Black Mountain Press in both The Sixty-Four Best Poets of 2018 and 2019. In England, Gessie was shortlisted for the Anthology Poetry Award and the Latin Program Poetry Prize, and in Ireland, for the Fish International Poetry Contest. He was a finalist for the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. He also won Third Prize in the Hungry Hill Writing Poets Meet Politics Competition. His short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous anthologies around the world. He has also published three novellas with Anaphora Literary Press: Guantanamo Redux; A Brief History of Summer Employment; and TrumpeterVille.

Additional winners:
Second Place – Rhett Watts of Auburn, MA for “Blues for Betty”
Third Place – Tom Driscoll of Framingham, MA for “This isn’t the first time”
Honorable Mention – Therese Gleason Carr of Worcester, MA for “Pee Wee Valley Kentucky: 1965”
Honorable Mention – Jennifer Freed of Holden, MA for “The Others”
Honorable Mention – Joyce Schmid of Palo Alto, CA for “Returning to Where I Grew Up”

The winning poems will be published in the next edition of The Worcester Review, the nationally recognized journal of the WCPA. The winners also receive a cash award. The WCPA will invite all the winners to read their work at the Winners’ Ceremony and Reading on Sunday, September 26, 2021, at 3:00 p.m.  The Winners’ Reading will be held at the First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester.  We hope that contest judge Pam Bernard will also be able to join us.

Contest judge Pam Bernard is a poet, painter, editor, and adjunct professor who received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Graduate Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and BA from Harvard University.  Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, two Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowships, and the Grolier and the Pablo Neruda Prizes in Poetry.  She has published four books: three full-length collections of poetry, and most recently a verse novel entitled Esther, published by CavanKerry Press.  Ms. Bernard lives in Walpole, New Hampshire.

The contest, which was established in 1973, was renamed the Frank O’Hara Prize in 2009 and continues to be generously supported as a tribute to the late poet Frank O’Hara by the O’Hara family.

2015 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: the Frank O’Hara Prize

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Congratulations to the winners:

Jennifer Freed – Honorable Mention
“The Thing With(out) Feathers”

John Eisner – Third Prize
“Bullets in Water”

Anne Marie Lucci – Second Prize
“Rules for Happiness”

Emily Ferrara – First Prize
“On the Morning of the Third Supermoon”

Contest Judge:  Dawn Potter
2015 Contest Chair:  Robert Steele

The Winner’s Reading was held on Sunday, September 27th
at the First Unitarian Church, Main Street, Worcester. 

Poems from the winners and contest judge appear in
The Worcester Review Volume XXXVI.

2019 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

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The WCPA is excited to announce the winners of the 2019 Annual Poetry Contest: the Frank O’Hara Prize. Contest judge Rachel McKibbens has selected the following poets for recognition.

First prize has been award to Worcester poet Carolyn Oliver for her poem “Rhododendrons.” Carolyn’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in FIELD, Indiana Review, The Shallow Ends, The Greensboro Review, Booth, Glass, Southern Indiana Review, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the Writer’s Block Prize in Poetry, selected by Maggie Smith.

Additional prizes are being awards as follows:

Second prize – Jacqueline Morrill – “Unhinged”
Third prize – Jennifer Freed – “RIPTIDE”
Honorable Mention – bg Thurston – “Gladiolas”

A Winners’ Reading took place on Sunday, September 29, 2019, at the First Unitarian Church (Main Street, Worcester) at 3:00 pm. The contest winners read their work followed by a reception and a featured performance by our contest judge, Rachel McKibbens.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

2018 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

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Congratulations to the Winners

Contest judge Regie Gibson selected three additional poems to honor.

The WCPA is pleased to announce that Jeff Walt of San Diego, CA, has won First Place in this year’s WCPA Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize for his poem “The World is Ending on the East Coast.”

Second Place – Nicole DiCello of Worcester, MA for “Electra 101”
Third Place – Malt Schlitzman of Worcester, MA for “This Rage Dies with Me”
Honorable Mention – Michael Morlock of Berlin, MA for “Speak of the Moment”

A Winners’ Reading was held on Sunday, September 23. The winners, along with the contest judge, shared their work.   

2017 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

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Congratulations to the winners of the WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize!

First Place – Richard Fox
Skating on the Edge of Flesh

Second Place – Jeff Walt
Each Morning I Rise Like a Sleepwalker and Rot a Little More

Third Place – Jennifer Freed
On Their Anniversary She Whispers His Name

Honorable Mention – Marsha Kunin
In the Garden of the Blind Barbarian

The Winners’ Reading was held on Sunday, September 24 where we heard from the winners and the contest judge, Lori Desrosiers.

Thanks to the First Unitarian Church, 90 Main St, Worcester, for hosting us once again and to all the volunteers who made the event possible.

2016 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2016
WCPA Poetry Contest: the Frank O’Hara Prize!!!

First place – Heather Treseler for Voyeur in June

Second place – Janet Shainheit for Harvey Atkins
Third Place – Barbara Ungar for Global Weirding

Honorable Mentions
Judith Robbins for Worcester, Mass. June 9, 1953
Leone Scanlon for My Seventy-Sixth Year
Rhett Watts for Summer’s End
John Garton for Istanbul Mosaic

Contest Judge:  Henry Walters
2016 Contest Chair:  Robert Steele

The Winners’ Reading was held on Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 2:00pm in the Bancroft Room at the First Unitarian Church (90 Main Street, Worcester).

Contest winners, and contest judge, Henry Walters, read their work.  Refreshments, provided by the
community were enjoyed along with a chance to mingle with the winners and fellow poets.