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 September 2018 Contest
Subject Poem: A poem of no more than 30 lines that has to do with some aspect of place or its reverse, displacement, judged by Linda Aldrich.

Winners:

1st Prize: Letting Go – Jenny Doughty
2nd Prize: NOLA: It’s Not About Beads – Tammi Truax
3rd Prize: Port Judith Rhode Island, 1953 – by James Breslin

Honorable Mention:

Afterlife – Karen Farrell
Early Sunday Morning – Jim Brosnan
Genie – Carl Little

MPS Prize Poem Contest Results

First Place: Going like Gaudi – David Sloan
Second Place: Peace Piece – Bruce Willard
Third Place: Boy on a Doorstep – Richard Foerster

Honorable Mentions (not given numbers):

The Fortune Teller – Jim Brosnan
Cold Storage – Deborah Pfeffer
In the Valley of the Brattleboro – Paul Weiss
The Places You Wore Khakis – Amy Kopec

Details for the April contest will be in the next issue of the Stanza, which is expected to be distributed sometime in December.