Janice Farrell Poetry Prize Category
First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $50
Third Prize: $25
Category Details
Three poems per entry. One poem per page. One page poems only. We welcome free verse, blank verse and prose poems. Each year a local poet is invited to guest judge. Past judges have included Indigo Moor, Katherine Harer, Rich Yurman, Patricia Gale, Christopher J. Renz, O.P., David Smith-Ferri, Toby Kaplan, Joyce Jenkins, C. B. Follett, Susan Terris, Janell Moon, Alice Rogoff, Clive Matson, David Alpaugh, Forrest Hamer, Marcia Campbell, Andrena Zawinski, Grace M. Grafton, Adam David Miller, Stewart Florsheim, Marvin R. Hiemstra, Charles and Gail Entrekin, Jeanne Wagner, Erica Goss, Connie Post, Susan Cohen, Dawn McGuire, Robert Eastwood, and Lee Rossi.
About Sponsor
JANICE FARRELL (San Francisco, CA) has a private practice in Spiritual Direction and trains and supervises Spiritual Director interns at Mercy Center Burlingame. She has a degree in Psychology, certification as a Holistic Health Educator Counselor, and has done extensive post grad work in Theology. She invites local poets as annual judges in her eager and full-hearted support of poetry, which she loves deeply.
About the 2022 Judge
MAW SHEIN WIN’s (El Cerrito, CA) recent poetry book, Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn Publishing), has been nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for CALIBA’s Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. Win’s previous publications include Invisible Gifts (Manic D Press), Ruins of a glittering palace (SPA), and Score and Bone (Nomadic Press). Maw was the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito (2016-2018) and a 2021 ARC Poetry Fellow at UC Berkeley. She often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other writers.
Judge’s Website
2021 Winners
- First Prize: Wendy Videlock of Palisade, CO
“Deconstruction” - Second Prize: Rafaella Del Bourgo of Berkeley, CA
“Lilacs” - Third Prize: Diane Lee Moomey of Half Moon Bay, CA
“Walking”
2021 Honorable Mentions
Heather Bourbeau of Berkeley, CA for “Pause”
Abby Caplin of San Francisco, CA for “On the Occasion of the Final Anatomy Exam”
Robert Eastwood of San Ramon, CA for E250 “Weatherford, Texas”
Terri Glass of Gasquet, CA for G111 “Autumn Haiku”
Louise Kantro of Modesto, CA for “Portrait of a Woman, Walking”
Diane Lee Moomey of Half Moon Bay, CA for “Sunday Morning: T’ai Chi Class”
Cecille Marcato of Austin, TX for “Love Letter from a Burning Building”
Christy Shepard of Berkeley, CA for “Skin and Water”
Lanette Sweeney of South Hadley, MA for “The Burn Mosaic”
Bethany Wallace of Batesville, AR for “Luck”