Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Jessi Peterson

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CWW Board Member Wins Poetry Award

Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine announced today that Council for Wisconsin Writers board member Lisa Vihos of Sheboygan, Sean Avery of Madison and Kathleen Dale of Milwaukee are winners of the magazine’s 2015 Poetry Contest. Vihos took first place for her “Lessons at the Checkpoint,” Avery’s “Prayer ( Song ) for Magic,” placed second, and Dale won third place for her “The Self-organizing Universal Nail Salon,”  In addition, Vihos and Dale received honorable mentions for other poems they entered in the contest.  Here is the WP&I  news release:
Congratulations to the Winners of the
Wisconsin People & Ideas 2015 Poetry Contest:
Winners of the 2015 Wisconsin People & Ideas Poetry Contest receive cash awards of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place). The first-place author also receives a one-week artist residency at Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point, and all three award-winning poets will read at the 2015 Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison and will have their prizewinning poems (and one other, selected by the editor) appear in Wisconsin People & Ideasmagazine.
Our 2015 contest honorable mention poems and poets:
  • “Hooked,” by Sharon Foley—Whitefish Bay
  • “Annunciation,” by Lisa Vihos—Sheboygan
  • “Neighbors,” by Jeri McCormick—Madison
  • “Sand County,” by Jessi Peterson—Eau Claire
  • “What Remains,” by John Pidgeon—Green Bay
  • “Let’s Intuit Something,” by Jess Williard—Madison
  • “Some People,” by Molly Murphy–Madison
  • “A Few Miles Outside Warroad, Several Weeks Before the Fall,” by Christine Holm—Oconomowoc
  • “We Were Wrong, But Were Given Five Ruins to Consider for Winter,” by Christine Holm—Oconomowoc
  • “Homeless in August,” by Kathleen Dale—Milwaukee
Wisconsin People & Ideas publishes fiction and poetry from Wisconsin writers, highlights new works from our visual artists and photographers, and covers science and environmental issues that affect Wisconsin’s people, lands, and waters. The magazine hosts annual fiction and poetry contests that award cash prizes up to $500, publication in the magazine, and a reading at the Wisconsin Book Festival, and more.  Since 1954, the independentWisconsin People & Ideas magazine has been a trusted resource for people who care about the issues and ideas that shape life in Wisconsin. Wisconsin People & Ideas is available at Wisconsin Academy events and exhibitions as well as selected bookstores, and is delivered quarterly to Wisconsin Academy members and libraries across the state.
This year the poetry contest lead judge is Kara Candito (right). The 2015 contest was coordinated by Jason A. Smith, editor, Wisconsin People & Ideas, and the preliminary judges were John Lehman, Zachary Carlson, and CX Dillhunt . The contest received 568 poem submissions from across the state of Wisconsin. All judging was done blindly and ranking was done solely on the merit of individual stories in the opinion of our judges.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their work to the 2015 poetry contest. Your participation is what has made this contest one of the best showcases for Wisconsin poets for over twenty years. Look for the first- through third-place poems to appear in the forthcoming spring/summer double issue of  Wisconsin People & Ideas . Honorable mention poems will appear in subsequent issues of the magazine, beginning with the Fall 2015 issue. Congratulations to all our winners and honorable mention poets—and keep on writing!
Wisconsin People & Ideas thanks lead and preliminary judges for volunteering their time and efforts to the 2015 contest, and extends a special thanks to 2015 contest sponsors Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point for donating a weeklong artist residency for the first-place winner, the Wisconsin Book Festival for hosting our contest winners’ reading, and Wisconsin Public Radio for promotional support. More information on the contest, prizes, and sponsors can be found at wisconsinacademy.org/poetrycontest.
Thanks to our contest sponsors!
Wisconsin People & Ideas  l  1922 University Avenue  l  Madison, WI  53726  l  608.263.1692