Wisconsin Poetry Award | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Wisconsin Poetry Award

2025 Wisconsin Poetry Award

The Wisconsin Poetry Award is presented for a group of five poems, one of which must be published in a literary journal or anthology in the contest year. Four of the five poems may be unpublished, self-published, appear in locally produced broadsides, or published this year or in a prior year. See full contest guidelines.

  • First Place: $500 award and five-day stay at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, WI ($895 value)
  • Honorable Mention: $50 and a five-day stay at Ernest Hüpeden's Painted Forest in Valton, WI ($800 value)

 Judge: Hua Xi

Winner: Nick Demske

Honorable Mention: Nina Boals

Previous winners:

2023
Threading (The Adroit Journal) and other poems, Diya Abbas  (Madison)
Honorable Mention:  “Dispatch from Simultaneous Swim Lessons (Willow Springs) and other poems, Megan Gannon (Appleton)


2022
“Barn Swallows” and other poems (Sky Island Journal), by Angela Williamson Emmert, Manawa, WI
Honorable Mention:  “Lake Edge, January” (The Hopper) and other poems, by Heather Swan, Madison, WI

2021

History of Wisconsin Poetry Award Winners


Return to the Wisconsin Writers Awards main page 

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