William Quist

Wisconsin People & Ideas has announced the winners of the year’s poetry contest.

1st place:  Geoff Collins of Marshall for “Before Dawn, the Crows”

2nd place: William Quist of River Falls for “Following Up”

3rd place:  C.E. Perry of Madison for “Reservation Math”

Congratulations to the Winners of the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2013 Poetry Contest: (click to read) First place: “Before Dawn, the Crows” by Geoff Collins – Marshall Second place: “Following Up” by William Quist – River Falls Third place: “Reservation Math” by C.E. Perry – Madison

Winners of the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2013 Poetry Contest receive cash awards of $500 (first place, the John Lehman Poetry Award), $100 (second place), and $50 (third place). The first-prize poet also receives a one-week residency at Shake Rag School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point and a three-hour CD recording/editing session at Abella Studios. Our honorable mention poems/poets for 2013: “A Tiny Village Due South of Guangzhou” by Karen Loeb – Eau Claire “Ecru, adj.” by Melissa E. McGraw – Wauwatosa “Birds in Flight” by Hope McLeod – Washburn “I Like November” by Elizabeth Harmatys Park – Burlington “Where the Evening Sun Goes Down” by John Pidgeon – Green Bay “At the Laundromat” by William Quist – River Falls “Spice Cake” by Paul Terranova – Madison “Return Trip” by Peggy Trojan – Brule “Serenade” by Irene Zimmerman – Milwaukee “Easy” by Patricia Zontelli – Menomonie Congratulations to all our winners and honorable mention poets. 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 Wisconsin People & Ideas, beginning with the Fall 2013 issue. This year the poetry contest lead judge is former Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011–2013), Bruce Dethlefsen. The 2013 contest was coordinated by Jason A. Smith, editor, Wisconsin People & Ideas, and featured as preliminary poetry judges: John Lehman – Cambridge Patrick Moran – Ft. Atkinson Of the 693 submissions for this year’s contest, lead judge Bruce Dethlefsen said, “It was difficult to judge the ‘winners’ … because of the high quality of the imaginative work submitted.” All judging was done blindly and ranking was done solely on the merit of individual poems in the opinion of our judges. Thank you to our lead and preliminary judges for volunteering their time and efforts to the 2013 contest, and a special thanks to 2013 contest sponsors Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point for donating a weeklong artist residency and and Bob Abella of Abella Studios for donating recording time for our first-place poet. More information on the contest, prizes, and sponsors and be found at wisconsinacademy.org/poetrycontest. Wisconsin People & Ideas  l  1922 University Avenue  l  Madison, WI  53726  l  608.263.1692 Questions and manuscript submissions to:  jsmith@wisconsinacademy.org