Announcing the winners of the 2016 Hillary Gravendyk Prize!

I recently judged the National Competition of the 2016 Hillary Gravendyk Prize (named after the late American poet; see my obituary for her here), counterbalancing the judge of the Regional Competition, Megan Gravendyk Estrella. As the Inlandia Institute posted recently on their Facebookpage, the winners have now been announced (I’ve included my selections in bold, although the list of finalists is a combination of lists by both judges). Congratulations to all! The two winning manuscripts (National and Regional) will be published next year. As I wrote of the winning (National) manuscript: “Traces of a Fifth Column,” the National winner of this year’s Hilary Gravendyk Prize, is a manuscript composed as of a series of dense, lively fragments across a wide canvas, each of which are more than capable of carrying the weight of the entire collection. “Traces of a Fifth Column” is a rich, meditative collage of essay-sketches that attempt to comprehend, through exploring meaning, language and being.


Thank you to all who entered. We are grateful for your words.
And thank you to our judges, rob mclennan and Megan Gravendyk Estrella, for choosing this year's books.
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National
Winner: Traces of a Fifth Column by Marco Maisto
First Runner Up:Letdown by Sonia Greenfield
Second Runner Up:In This Housing by Mary Wilson
Regional
WinnerGods Will for Monsters by Rachelle Cruz
First Runner Up:Eyelets Under Sun by Lauren Henley
Second Runner Up:Wild Embrace by Tim Hatch
Finalists:Medusa Reads La Negra’s Palm by Elizabeth AcevedoNostalgia for a World Where We Can Live by Monica BerlinMaybe To Region by Monica BerlinFIGHTING EXILE by Terry BrixPalace of Conferences by Andrew CantrellNimrod in Hell by James CapozziPity the Lifeboat Poems by Colleen CariasUs Mouth by Nikia ChaneyA Feeling For Good Water by Elizabeth ChapmanTalking to Yourself Is Fine by Sally DawidoffAn Aperture MC HylandLittle Yellow Father by Kiandra JimenezLight Into Bodies by Nancy Chen Long Brother Bullet by Cassandra LopezReaper’s Milonga by Lucian MattisonOf All Places In This Place Of All Places by Joe Milazzo Working With a First and Second Language by John MillerYesterday It Poured by Tim PerezLostness by Cindy RinneElegy with Trench Art and Asanas and Other Poems by Jane SatterfieldGenerating the Wild by Tyler Stallings[addendum] by B.P. SuttonWhales in the Water Tank by Micah TasakaGhost Limnology by Lisken Van Pelt Dusbrightness this by Franciszca Voeltz