We are thrilled to announce the winners selected by our 2025 Annual Poetry Contest Judge, Donald Revell:

First Prize ($500): Elisabeth Preston-Hsu, "Zooxanthellae"

"This poem beautifully coaxes Vision out of Fact, gently but powerfully proposing an ethical imperative that turns out to be a spiritual imperative as well."

Second Prize ($200): Hilary King, "Poem with Kelp and Regret"

"In a way that truly reminds me of Dickinson, this poem converts matters of mortality into a peep into eternity. Very quietly, very subtly, disappointment acquires a nimbus of courage."

Third Prize ($100): Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei, "Scaffolding"

"I am enthralled by the syllabic magic of this poem, by the way the poet adventures blank verse measures with a natural authority and tact. This poem revels in the juxtapositions of abstraction with plain speaking in a way that can be downright Shakespearian!"

Honorable Mention: Katharyn Howd Machan, "How Spiders Travel"

"There is a daring insouciance about this poem that makes it immediately convincing, immediately trustworthy. The lines manage a tenderness that is entirely free of irony, and which therefore moves me deeply."

Our sincere thanks to everyone who entered the contest. We will be accepting some of those poems for our Spring/Summer issue, which will come out in July.

Donald Revell is the author of fifteen collections of poetry, most recently Canandaigua, six volumes of translations from the French, and three volumes of critical writings, including Essay: A Critical Memoir. A former Fellow of the Ingram Merrill and Guggenheim Foundations, he is the winner of the PEN USA Translation Award and two-time winner of the PEN USA Award for Poetry, and he has twice been awarded Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.