Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2023 Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards! Read the winning poem and an interview with the first place winner, Spencer Chang, in the July/August 2024 issue of Writer’s Digest.

Want to see your name on this list? Keep checking our competitions page for upcoming competitions.

1. “Songs of Gideon” by Calloway Song

2. “Passeridae” by Julie Novak-McSweeney

3. “For Lot’s Wife (A Parable of Fame)” by Judith Chibante

4. “Rain After a Drought” by Chuck Collins

5. “Ode to my Octopus Dilemma” by Simone Lyon

6. “Says the Witch” by Chrystina Hanson

7. “Ode to Edward Hopper’s Hodgkin’s House” by Suellen Wedmore

8. “The Summit” by Stuart Sheppard

9. “Let the World Fall” by M. K. Wessel

10. “Francis” by J.W. Rose

11. “Ballet” by Alison Luterman

12. “Harlem Noir” by Ryan Files

13. “Sitting in the Old House – Part Two” by Erin Callaway

14. “When We Were Magical” by Victoria Mary Fach

15. “Tied in Knots” by Laura Teste

16. “October Light” by Dennis Todd

17. “My Son Gets an ‘M’” by Lee Varon

18. “Soul Returned Home” by Lila Drowos

19. “The Journey” by Michelle Smith

20. “I Remember You” by Stuart Forrest

21. “How to interview for a job after Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’” by S.M. Ward

22. “Free Advice” by Adrienne Parkhurst

23. “An Elderly Man” by Ron Speer

24. “At the local coffee shop” by SL Fogleman

25. “Half Price” by Yingchao Xiao