WOMR Announces the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest Winners & Reading Event
Poetry contest raising funds for Cape Cod’s only community access radio station drew submissions from all over the North America.
Provincetown, MA, March 3, 2020: WOMR is pleased to announce the list of winners of the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest. Poets submitted five pages of their best unpublished poetry, any style, any length, and any subject matter. A $1,000 National Prize was awarded to the best poem, with a $300 Regional Prize to best poem by a Cape Cod-based poet. A $15 entry fee was used as prize money and to support WOMR’s operating expenses.
“Many of the national submissions were extremely strong this year,” says contest judge Marge Piercy. “I had trouble eliminating what I thought were some really good poems.”
More than 700 pages of poetry submissions were received from Cape Cod and all over North America. The list of winners, runners-up and honorable mentions includes:
REGIONAL JOE GOUVEIA POETRY CONTEST RESULTS
1st place: Night Train East, 1985 by Elaine Cohen (Marstons Mills)
2nd place: Memory Care Unit by Robin Smith-Johnson (Mashpee)
3rd place: After the Hurricane by Wilderness Sarchild (Brewster)
REGIONAL HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ailianthus by Chuck Madansky (Brewster), The Rank Thinning by Gregory Hischak (Yarmouth Port), Shopping For Bras by Lauren Wolk (Centerville), Meditations at Newcomb Hollow Beach by Lynn Viti (Wellfleet), Weather Report Villanelle by Michael Shapiro (Brewster), A Trisket Nantasket by Jeremy Faro (Provincetown), To Kneel at the Altar of White Fang by Donna O’Connell-Gilmore (South Orleans) and In Celebration of Muddy Feet by Tom Chilton (Falmouth).
NATIONAL JOE GOUVEIA POETRY CONTEST RESULTS
1st place: We Burn Like a House on Fire by Sophia Starmack (Brooklyn, NY)
2nd place: Wave by Bruce Bond (Denton, TX)
3rd place: For the White Helmets: Syrian Civil Defense Workers by Cyra Sweet Dumitru (San Antonio, TX)
NATIONAL HONORABLE MENTIONS
February 22nd, 2017 by Jil St. Ledger-Roty (South Franklinville, NY), Things I’ll Tell My Daughter When She’s Older by Jennifer S. Brown (Arlington, MA), If Only by Elaine Dillof (New York, NY), Queen of Wands by Devreaux Baker (Mendocino, CA), Lot’s Wives I and II by Harvey Soss (Brooklyn, NY), Blue Veins by Cassidy Arrington (Philadelphia, PA) and End of Life Directive by Anastasia Vassos (Roslindale, MA).
The regional winners and honorable mentions have been invited to read their poem at Wellfleet Preservation Hall on April 16th where they will share the stage with contest judge Marge Piercy. As in past years, novelist and poet Jeannette de Beauvoir will host the event.
“We were very excited to see an increase in participation this year, says John Braden, WOMR executive director. “We would like to thank everyone for submitting their work and of course to contest judge Marge Piercy. Thanks also Chris Boles and Jeannette de Beauvoir for their assistance.”
The poetry contest, which honors Cape Cod-based poet and WOMR volunteer Joe Gouveia who died in 2014, is now in its seventh year.
About WOMR/WFMR: WOMR is a noncommercial, nonprofit educational community radio station offering an eclectic blend of music and spoken-word programming since 1982 and broadcasting from Provincetown, Massachusetts—making it “outermost radio.” WOMR is not affiliated with any educational institution and derives its financial support from listeners, businesses and funding organizations. More information at www.womr.org
