2023 Pinesong Award Winners

It is my extreme pleasure to announce the winners of the 2023 Pinesong Awards.

Poet Laureate Award

Preliminary Judge: Holly Iglesias

Final Judge: Joseph Bathanti

First Place: Jane Shlensky – Preservation

Finalists:

Les Brown – Guernica

Joyce Brown – Pintos

Mary Alice Dixon – Communion with Orange

Eric Weil – Little Pieces

Liza Wolff-Francis – A Grieiving of a Tree

Earl Huband – An Incomplete History of a Storied Work

Morrow Dowdle – Emmet, I Can’t Stop

Sean Doyle – Grown Up

Alice Osborn Award

Judge: Olena Rose

1st Place: Carmen Ward – Bookfish

2nd Place: Scott Owens – What Poems Are About

Honorable Mention: Richard Allen Taylor – Things  You Can Do with a Balloon 

Honorable Mention: Richard L. Matta – a doggie shares complaints 

Honorable Mention: Eric Weil – A Secret

Mary Ruffin Poole American Heritage Award

Judge: Shannon C. Ward

1st Place: Joanne Durham – Praying Mantis

2nd Place: Laura Alderson – Deep closet archaeology

Honorable Mention: Priscilla Webster Williams – A Relic in an Age of Repair

Honorable Mention: Tori Reynolds – Poem with Balloons

Bruce Lader Poetry of Witness Award

Judge: Jay Ward

1st Place: Lucinda Trew – we say their names 

2nd Place: Rose-Mary Harrington – Border Crossing 

Honorable Mention: Lavonne Adams – Symbiotic 

Bloodroot Haiku Award

Judge: Lenard Moore

1st Place: Glenn Coats – light offshore

2nd Place: Jeff Ferrara – on another plane

Honorable Mention: Cody Huddleston – wild blackberries

Honorable Mention: Anne Louise Curran – a jaunty floral

Thomas H. McDill Award

Judge: Steve Cushman

1st Place: Glenn Coats – The Austin Boy

2nd Place: Pam Baggett – Hendrix at Eighty

Honorable Mention: Mary Spadoni Foolish to Think

Honorable Mention: Laura Younger – The Sound of Perfume

Honorable Mention: Carmen Ward – Parting Gift

Jean Williams Poetry of Disability, Disease, and Healing Award

Judge: Stacy R. Nigliazzo

1st Place: Carlin Corsino – Medical Ethics 

2nd Place: David Cameron – Special

Honorable Mention: Pam Baggett – Winner

Honorable Mention: Peggy Heitmann – You’d Never Know Unless I Told You 

Honorable Mention: Josh Lefkowitz – Decisions

Carol Bessent Hayman Poetry of Love Award

Judge: Melissa Hassard

1st Place: Jennifer Hu – While waiting, what do you think of? 

2nd Place: J.S.Absher – The Horse and His Rider Hath He Thrown into the Sea  

Honorable Mention: Beth Copeland – Eleven Lines In Search of the Perfect Rhyme 

Katherine Kennedy McIntyre Light Verse Award

Judge: Audrey Smith

1st Place: Sherry Siddall – Sympathy for a Cockroach

2nd Place: John Desjarlais – My Skeleton Speaks

Honorable Mention: Susan Spalt – It is bad enough

Honorable Mention: Sharon Howard – Life As I Know It

Honorable Mention: Mary Alice Dixon – Sales Tips for Swimwear Associates at Big Body Beachwear & Gear  

Poetry of Courage Award

Judge: Ebony Stewart

1st Place: Richard L. Matta – Do not fill your chamber with despair

2nd Place: Mary Spadoni – Lifeguard training to take place this Saturday at Main East High School

Honorable Mention: Rose-Mary Harrington – Peggy’s Husband

Honorable Mention: Lee Seese – PTSD

Honorable Mention: Megan Feichtel – Broken

Joanna Catherine Scott Award

Judge: D.J. Rogers

1st Place: Lavonne Adams – Ghazal: Ghost Apples (Kent County, Michigan) 

2nd Place: Bradley R. Strahan – Now Be Still

Honorable Mention: Joyce Brown – Ghazal for Lost Family

Honorable Mention: Beth Copeland – Appalachian Ghazal


I am incredibly thankful for every poet that submitted to this year’s contests. Each of our judges noted the caliber of the work and the difficulty in making their selections. Stay tuned for more information about our awards’ ceremony in May!

Lumpkin Out.

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