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WCPA Annual Poetry Contest

– The Frank O’Hara Prize

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 is open for submissions in January each year, closes for submissions on April 30th, and winners are normally notified by the end of June. A Winners’ Reading is held in September.

Submissions for our 2021 Annual Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize are open through Friday, April 30, 2021.  Submission details can be found on the 2021 Annual Contest Submission Guidelines page.

 

Recent Winners

YEAR CONTEST JUDGE FIRST PLACE WINNER The Worcester Review
2020 Doug Holder Lynn E. Frederiksen Volume XLI
2019 Rachel McKibbens Carolyn Oliver Volume XL
2018 Regie Gibson Jeff Walt Volume XXXIX
2017 Lori Desrosiers Richard Fox Volume XXXVIII
2016 Henry Walters Heather Treseler Volume XXXVII
2015 Dawn Potter Emily Ferrara Volume XXXVI
2014 BJ Ward Helen Marie Casey Volume XXXV
2013 Alice B. Fogel Ann Sweetman Volume XXXIV
2012 Lloyd Schwartz Dan Lewis Volume XXXIII
2011 Gary Lenhart Patricia Youngblood Volume XXXII
2010 Barbara Helfgott Hyett Curt Curtin Volume XXXI
2009 James Haug Francine D’Alessandro Volume XXX
2008 Dara Weir Carle Johnson Volume XXIX
2007 Chard DeNiord Kat O’Connor Volume XXVIII
2006 Patricia Fargnoli David Thoreen Volume XXVII
2005 Peter Johnson Susan Elizabeth Sweeney Volume XXVI
2004 Margaret Gibson Judith Ferrara Volume XXV
2003 Jeffrey Harrison Clair Mowbray Golding Volume XXIV
2002 Sue Standing Anita Ouellette Volume XXIII
2001 Donald Baker Jonathan Blake Volume XXII
2000 Deborah Digges Peter Clement Davis Volume XXI
1999 Wesley McNair Leigh A. Emery Volume XX
1998 Ruth Whitman Juli Nunlist Volume XIX
1997 Hugh Ogden Karen Hart Volume XVIII
1996 Julia Older Kathleen L. Vincent Volume XVII
1995 Thomas Lux Alan Albert Volume XVI
1994 Olga Broumas Tony Brown Volume XVI
1993 Stephen Tapscott Donald Baker Volume XV
1992 Mary Oliver Susan Roney-O’Brien Volume XIV
1991 Chris Gilbert Fred Marchant Volume XIII
1990 Chris Gilbert Christopher E. Phillips Volume XII
1989 Russell Edson Stuart Peterfreund Volume XII

Contest History

The Annual Poetry Contest is one of the earliest annual events established by the Association. 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 in 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 the New York, where he found work at the Museum of Modern Art. O’Hara had known John Ashbery at Harvard and now 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.

 

 

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