13th Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize

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Judge:Andrew Motion

The winner of the thirteenth Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize is Christopher Cessac’s The Youngest Ocean.

Mr Cessac, of Toronto, Canada, will receive a cheque for $3,000 and Waywiser will publish The Youngest Ocean, in October 2018, when he will read alongside Andrew Motion, the thirteenth contest’s judge, at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

It took the press’s screening panel two months of careful reading, deliberation and discussion to narrow the field to the group of finalists which, stripped of all identifying reference, was then sent to Professor Motion. His decision was relayed to the press in the second week of March.

Our congratulations go not just to Christopher Cessac and to those whose manuscripts reached the later stages of the contest — the semi-finalists and finalists are listed below — but to everyone else who entered. It is thanks to everyone who participated that the latest contest has been another big success.

More information about Christopher Cessac and the other poets who made it to the last stages of the contest can be accessed by clicking on the links below.

 

Winner

Christopher Cessac, The Youngest Ocean

 

Nominees

(in name order)

Melissa Barrett, Moon on Roam

Audrey Bohanan, Any Keep or Contour

Megan Grumbling, Dwelling

Johnny Horton, Vesuvius after Dark

Michael Lavers, After Earth

Marsha Pomerantz, The God’s Honest Truth

Alison Prine, Ghostwriting My Autobiography

Christine Robbins, Wake

Christian Schlegel, Michigan

Austin Segrest, Canticle

Anne-Marie Thompson, Mama Calls Me Crying

David Tucker, Raindogs

Jonathan Weinert, Indifferent Country

William Winfield Wright, Birds Vs Cosmonauts