2024 Paterson Poetry Prize Winners

The Paterson Poetry Prize is sponsored by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. It is a $2000 award for a book of poems, 48 pages or more in length, selected by our judges as the strongest collection of poems published in the previous year.

WINNERS

Mahogany L. Browne, Chrome Valley (Liveright Publishing Co., New York, NY)
Chrome Valley is a praise song to black women, and to all that survive despite everything that tries to kill the spirit inside them. What an unforgettable book!”

Afaa M. Weaver, A Fire in the Hills (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, CA)
“Afaa M. Weaver’s book, sparks a fire in the heart. Weaver has been writing heart-wrenching, honest poems, and this book continues his tradition of making music out of sorrow and pain and finding the sweetness hidden within our daily lives.”

Comments by Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Founder & Executive Director, The Poetry Center at PCCC.

FINALISTS

Oliver de la Paz, The Diaspora Sonnets (Liveright Publishing Co., New York, NY)

Alfred Encarnacion, Precincts of the Passion-Dragon (Kelsay Books, American Fork, UT)

Jennifer Franklin, If Some God Shakes Your House (Four Way Books, New York, NY)

Jared Harél, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE)

Colleen Michaels, Prize Wheel (Small Bites Press, Beverly, MA)

Joe Weil, Saint World (Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books, Seaside Heights, NJ)

2024 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WINNERS

The Poetry Center at PCCC is happy to announce the 2024 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE winners for three grade levels. In each category, a book is selected, which in the opinion of the judges, is the most outstanding book for young people published in the previous year.

Grades Pre K - 3

Carla Ketner, Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE)

René Colato Lainez, Do I Belong Here? / Es este mi lugar? (Arte Público Press, Hoúston, TX)

Grades 4 - 6

Kevin Carey, Junior Miles and the Junkman (Regal Hoúse Públishing / Fitzroy Books, Raleigh, NC)

Tracy Occomy Crowder, Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key (Tú Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books Inc., New York, NY)

Grades 7 - 12

S. E. Reed, My Heart is Hurting (Wild Ink Públishing, Camphill, PA)

Anica Mrose Rissi, Wishing Season (Qúill Tree Books, An Imprint of Harper Collins Públishers, New York, NY)

Guidelines and an application for the 2025 award are available on our AWARDS page.

Joshua Bennett and Tom Sleigh Win the 2023 Paterson Poetry Prize

THE 2023 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNERS are Joshua Bennett for The Study of Human Life (Penguin Books, New York, NY) and Tom Sleigh for The King’s Touch: Poems (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN).

Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Founder & Executive Director, of The Poetry Center at PCCC says of these books:

“Joshua Bennett’s book, The Study of Human Life, captures the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and explores black experiences and relationships. This book is brilliant and moving.

Tom Sleigh’s book, The King’s Touch: Poems, is unflinching in its ability to look at and see the trauma and ugliness in the world, and yet not to despair. This book seeks to heal all that is broken and tortured, comfort all the refugees and lost people, and take us to a place where compassion is a salve that heals.”

FINALISTS

Ama Codjoe, Bluest Nude: Poems (Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, MN)

Matthew Dickman, Husbandry (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)

James Hoch, Last Pawn Shop in New Jersey (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA)

Julia Lisella, Our Lively Kingdom: Poems (Bordighera Press, New York, NY)

Wesley McNair, Late Wonders: New and Selected Poems (Godine, Boston, MA)

Bianca Stone, What Is Otherwise Infinite : Poems (Tin House, Portland, OR)

SUSTAINED LITERARY EXCELLENCE AWARD

Vivian Shipley, Hindsight: 2020 (Louisiana Literature Press, Hammond, LA)

THE 2023 ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY AWARDS

The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the 2023 ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY AWARDS WINNERS/

FIRST PRIZE
Linda Nemec Foster, Grand Rapids, MI “When We Talk About the Movie, Casablanca, My Father Remembers Every Line …”
Caroline Russell, Jersey City, NJ “An Ode to Mildred”

SECOND PRIZE
Lorraine Conlin, Wantagh, NY “First Date”
Christine Rhein, Brighton, MI “Cooking with My Sister”

THIRD PRIZE
Marcia LeBeau, South Orange, NJ “Toward the River”
Lynne Viti, Westwood, MA “Westwood Lodge, the Summer Hotel”


For a complete list of the winners, honorable mentions, and editor’s choice poems and poets, see our press release on the Contests and Awards page, where you will also find the guidelines for entering next year’s contest.

THE 2023 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WINNERS

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey is pleased to announce the winning books and authors for the 2023 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

WINNERS

Grade Pre K - 3

Desiree Cooper, Nothing Special (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI)

Crystal Hubbard, Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar (Lee & Low Books Inc., New York, NY)

Grade 4 - 6

Alda P. Dobbs, The Other Side of the River (Sourcebooks Young Readers, Naperville, IL)

Diane Zahler, Goblin Market (Holiday House, New York, NY)

Grade 7 - 12

Barbara Krasner, Ethel’s Song: Ethel Rosenberg’s Life in Poems (Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, New York, NY)

Monica Zepeda, Boys of the Beast (Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, New York, NY)

Click here for the rules and an application, and for more information, email sdesai@pccc.edu

2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards

FIRST PRIZE
January Gill O’Neil, Beverly, MA “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial, Glendora, MS, October 19, 2019”
Bill Wunder, Langhorne, PA “Looking Through Old Family Photographs”

SECOND PRIZE
Jason Craig Poole, South Orange, NJ “First Dance”
Sherida Yoder , North Haledon, NJ “Sometimes”

THIRD PRIZE
Colleen Michaels, Beverly, MA “One Day We Were Full and Flush”
Wanda S. Praisner, Bedminster, NJ “Departures”

For a full list of Honorable Mention and Editor’s Choice poems,
see our awards page.

The Award Winners’ Reading is scheduled for February 4, 2023



2022 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

The following are the winners of the 2022 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE listed by grade levels.

Grade Pre K - 3

Hunter Liguore, The Whole World Inside Nan ’s Soup (Yeehoo Press , La Habra, CA)

Joyce Sidman, Hello Earth! Poems to our Planet (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, MI)

Grade 4 - 6

Alda P. Dobbs, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna (Sourcebooks Young Readers, Naperville, IL)

Elizabeth Goss, My Way West: Real Kids Traveling the Oregon & California Trails (West Margin Press, Berkeley, CA)

Grade 7 - 12

María José Ferrada, Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, MI)

Joseph Rael & David R. Kopacz, Becoming Who You Are: Beautiful Painted Arrow’s Life &

Lessons for Children ages 10-100 (Condor & Eagle Press, Seattle, WA)

THE 2022 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNERS

          

The Paterson Poetry Prize Award for 2022 is shared by two poets:

Catherine Doty, Wonderama (CavanKerry Press, Ltd., Fort Lee, NJ)

Craig Morgan Teicher, Welcome to Sonnetville, New Jersey (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)

FINALISTS

Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Water I Won’t Touch (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)

Bob Hicok, Red Rover Red Rover (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)

Laura Kasischke, Lightning Falls in Love (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)

Linda Lerner, Taking the F Train (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)

Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN)

Adrienne Su, peach state (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)

Jenny Qi, Focal Point (Steel Toe Books, Winston-Salem, NC)

The Paterson Poetry Prize of $2,000 is given annually by the Poetry Center to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year. The submission deadline for the 2023 award is February 1, 2023.

2021 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNER

The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize for 2021 is Rachel Eliza Griffiths, for her collection Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY).

“Rachel Eliza Griffith’s book is a multifaceted elegy to her mother and exploration of grief and of how to survive. These are beautiful and moving poems by a truly fine
and brilliant writer.” — Maria Mazziotti Gillan

FINALISTS

Ellen Bass, Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)

Tyree Daye, Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)

Megan Fernandes, Good Boys (Tin House, St. Portland, OR)

Tony Gloeggler, What Kind of Man (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)

Jeffrey Harrison, Between Lak es (Four Way Books, New York, NY)

Danusha Laméris, Bonf ire Opera (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)


PATERSON PRIZE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Gerald Stern, Blessed as We Were (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE

2021 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the 2021 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE winners in three grade levels.

Grade Pre K - 3

Anica Mrose Rissi, Love, Sophia on the Moon (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, New York, NY)

Mariana Llanos, Eunice and Kate (Penny Candy Books, Oklahoma City, OK)

Grade 4 - 6

Diane Worthey, In One Ear & Out The Other (Penny Candy Books, Oklahoma City, OK)

Joseph Bruchac, The Powwow Dog (Reycraft Books, New York, NY)

Grade 7 - 12

Beth Kephart, Cloud Hopper (Penelope Editions, Oklahoma City, OK)

Anna K. Scotti, Big & Bad (Texas Review Press, Huntsville, TX)

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE