9th Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize

Judge: Heather McHugh

The winner of the ninth Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize was Geoffrey Brock’s Voices Bright Flags.

Mr Brock, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, received a cheque for $3,000 and Waywiser published Voices Bright Flags, his second collection of poems, on 17 November 2013, when he read alongside Heather McHugh, the ninth 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 Ms McHugh. Waywiser’s Editor-in-Chief, Philip Hoy, rang Mr Brock with Ms McHugh’s decision in the second week of March.

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

More information about Geoffrey Brock and the other poets who made it as far as the semi-finals, together with examples of their work, can be read by clicking on the relevant links below.

Winner

Geoffrey Brock, Voices Bright Flags

Nominees

(in name order)

Andrew Cox, The Same Thing Twice

Kevin Craft, Vagrants & Accidentals

Kevin Cutrer, Lord’s Own Anointed

Julie Funderburk, The Door That Always Opens

Heather June Gibbons, Exploded View

Jessica Goodfellow, Mendeleev’s Mandala

Carrie Green, Double Brilliance

Johnny Horton, Changing Room

Jerome Luc Martin, The Gardening Fires

Matt McBride, City of Incandescent Light Bulbs

Sara Miller, Spellbound

Mary Moore, Flicker

Kathryn Nuernberger, Strange Cases

Phoebe Reeves, Helen of Bikini

David Ricks, If Symptoms Persist

Austin Segrest, Barrel Roll

Alissa Valles, Dr Salvage

Bob Watts, The Tendency of Bodies to Remain at Rest

Mike White, Arrangements for a Whale’s Heart

Philip White, Among Other Things

Brad Whitehurst, The Element We Live In