Contests are held for members in conjunction with each gathering to give opportunity and encouragement to keep writing and to receive constructive feedback, recognition, and deserved praise from knowledgeable judges. Subject, form, and line limit for contests are announced in the preceding newsletter. Contest deadlines are always postmarked 1 month before the next meeting. Poems are sent anonymously to judges who make written decisions and comments on each entry, to be presented orally at the meeting. Judges' choices of the top three entries in each contest are recognized with certificates, cash awards, and publication in the newsletter. Honorable mentions are awarded certificates and published in the Stanza if space allows.

CONTEST WINNERS of May 2017
Subject Poem: A poem that makes some use of or reference to a myth or myths from any culture.
Contest Winners: "Food" Poems, judged by Alice Persons
1st Prize: She Illustrates Robert Herrick - Gus Peterson
2nd Prize: Fed Up - James Breslin
3rd Prize: I Grow Beans, Therefore I am - Jenny Doughty
1st Honorable Mention: Apple Drops - Sharon Bray
2nd Honorable Mention: Savories - Margie Kivel
3rd Honorable Mention: The Dinner - Marshall Whitten

Contest Submissions
(Submission to a contest constitutes permission to publish.)
Format: Fairy Tale/Popular Culture (24-line limit). Refer to a fairy tale and use some recognizable aspect of pop culture. While innovative uses of "Cinderella" or "Snow White" are great, feel free to Google a list of less well-known tales. You can also look for models on www.poets.org and there's a journal called The Fairy Tale Review. Anne Sexton's Transformations is another source for models and ideas. Have fun!
Judge: Jeri Theriault
Theriault's chapbook In the Museum of Surrender won the 2013 Encircle Publications chapbook contest. She has also written the chapbooks Catholic (Pudding House, 2002) and Corn Dance (Nightshade Press, 1994), runner-up in the William and Kingman Page Poetry Chapbook Contest. Her poems have appeared widely in journals and anthologies, including Paterson Literary Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Rattle, The Atlanta Review, Orpheus and Company, Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology, French Connections: An Anthology of Poetry by Franco-Americans, and The Return of Kral Majales, Prague's International Literary Renaissance 1990-2010. A Fulbright recipient (1998-99) and Pushcart Prize nominee (2006, 2013, and 2016) Jeri holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her teaching career included six years as English department chair at the International School of Prague. She lives in South Portland, Maine, and is married to the composer Philip Carlsen.

Send your contest poems to
James Breslin
451 Bassett Rd.
Winslow, ME 04901

DEADLINE: August 16, 1 poem per contest (no fee) with 2 copies of each poem (ONE identified). Use a letter-size (long, #10) envelope marked "CONTEST." Please include a SASE.