2025 Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award
The Lorine Niedecker 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 Four of the five poems may be unpublished, self-published, appear in locally produced broadsides, or published this year or in a prior year.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)
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Honorable Mention: $50 and a five-day stay at Ernest Hüpeden's Painted Forest in Valton, WI ($800 value)
2025 Deadline: January 15, 2026
Entry fee: $25 (or $15 for members of Arts + Literature Laboratory)
Judge: Hua Xi
Hua Xi is a poet and artist. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New Republic, and elsewhere.
Enter the Niedecker Poetry contest!
History
Lorine Niedecker [pronounced NEE dicur] (1903-1970) was born on Blackhawk Island near Fort Atkinson, where she lived for most of her life. After two years at Beloit College, she returned home and began writing poetry, supporting herself by proofreading, writing for a radio station, and even cleaning hospital floors. At first, her work was influenced by Imagist and Objectivist poets, but she gradually developed her own voice and style, characterized by spare language, subtle rhythms, and stark, vivid imagery. During her lifetime, she published her four poetry books at infrequent intervals (New Goose in 1946 and My Friend Tree in 1962), although she was a regular contributor to literary magazines. Since her death, the publication of four additional books, her Collected Works (2002), in particular, has contributed to her reputation as a original and significant voice in contemporary American poetry.
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
2019
David Southward, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Bruce Taylor, Chippewa Fall
s
2018
Kathryn Gahl, Appleton
Honorable Mention: Eileen Mattmann, West Bend
2017
Ed Werstein, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Margaret Benbow, Madison
2016
David Southward, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Georgia Ressmeyer, Sheboygan
2015
John K. Walser, Fond du Lac
Susan Elbe, Madison
2014
Cathryn Cofell, Appleton
Honorable Mention: DeWitt Clinton, Shorewood
2013
Jeanie Tomasko, Middleton
Honorable Mention: Rita Mae Reese, Madison
2012
Kara Candito, Madison
Honorable Mention: Amie Whittemore, Racine
2011
Sarah Busse, Madison
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
2010
David Krump, La Crosse
Honorable Mention: Catherine Jagoe, Madison
2009
Angela Sorby, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Catherine Jagoe, Madison
2008
Susan Firer, Whitefish Bay
Honorable Mention: Cathryn Cofell, Appleton
2007
David Krump, La Crosse
2006
Susan Elbe, Madison
Honorable Mention: Harriet Brown, Madison
Honorable Mention: Anjie Greene-Martin, Palmyra
2005
Alison Townsend, Stoughton
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
Honorable Mention: Susan Firer, Milwaukee
Honorable Mention: Karla Huston, Appleton
2004
Karl Elder, Howards Grove
Honorable Mention: Kathryn Gahl, Two Rivers
Honorable Mention: Susan Elbe, Madison
2003
Michael Kriesel, Aniwa
Honorable Mention: Wendy Vardaman, Madison
Honorable Mention: Robin Chapman, Madison
2002
Anne-Marie Cusac, Madison
Honorable Mention: Elaine Cavanaugh, Hartland
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