UTAH STATE POETRY SOCIETY
NURTURING THOSE WITH A DESIRE TO WRITE POETRYPoetry shared. Life shared.
Upcoming Events
26-27
2024 UTSPS Poetry Contest Winners
On April 26th and 27th, we held our Spring Awards Festival in front of a full house of poets from all over the state of Utah at the gorgeous Residence Inn in Provo, UT.
Guest speakers, Michael Lavers and Rob Carney, blew our minds with their poetry readings from their collection of published books and new work. And we were delighted to participate in a writing exercise that taught us to write in surprising ways (and to write by turning off the internal editor).
We celebrated the winners and honorable mentions for each of the 38 poetry categories. The poet to win the Alice Morrey Sweepstakes Award was Markay Brown, who earned 31 points. This year, we gave a special award for the Newcomer of the Year, which went to the newest UTSPS member to score the most points. That honor went to Lauren Madsen, who earned 16 points.
For a complete list of winners of the 2024 UTSPS poetry contest, please read the PDF copy of the 2024 UTSPS Poetry Contest Winners.
Online Poetry Readings
National Association of State Poetry Societies:
NFSPS Blackberry Peach Awards 2022
NFSPS Blackberry Peach Awards 2021
NFSPS Blackberry Peach Awards 2020
Recently Past Events
2023 UTSPS Annual Contest & April Awards Festival
The UTSPS 2023 poetry contest winners (including honorable mentions) are now available as a PDF download here.
The UTSPS held the 2023 Spring Awards Festival on April 28th and 29th as a fully online event (via Zoom). Our guest speakers for the event were Lisa Bickmore, current poet laureate of Utah, Budd Powell Mahan, former president of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, WIlly Palomo, president of the Utah Slam Poetry chapter, and Rachel Chidester, the Utah State Slam Champion for 2022.
Contest rules for the 2023 UTSPS annual contest (deadline was 2/1/2023) can be found here.
2022 NFSPS Annual Convention
The National Federation of State Poetry Societies held its 2022 annual convention outside Columbus, Ohio. The contest winners from the NFSPS annual contest have been posted to nfsps.com. It was wonderful to see “UT” listed 56 times! Here’s a direct link to the winners PDF.
Utah Poetry Festival April 2022
The Utah Poetry Festival 2022 was organized and hosted by Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal. There was a statewide and month-long celebration of Utah’s poets and poetry throughout April 2022. Watch Utah poets read original poems highlighted throughout the month via the Utah Humanities YouTube channel.
Interested in preparing a poetry manuscript? Check out this panel discussion on the topic: Utah Poetry Festival: Organizing a Poetry Manuscript. Do you have a bunch of poems that you’d like to be a book? Are you uncertain about where to start, or stuck, or looking for some ideas before you begin? Join us for this practical discussion of how to organize a poetry manuscript. Panelists: Cindy King, Lance Larsen, Jason Olsen. Moderated by Jennifer Tonge.
2022 UTSPS Annual Contest & April 8-9 Awards Festival
The UTSPS 2022 poetry contest winners and honorable mentions are now available as a PDF download: UTSPS_2022_Winners_List.pdf.
UTSPS held our 2022 Spring Awards Festival on April 8th and 9th as a fully online event (via Zoom).
Contest rules for the 2022 UTSPS annual contest (deadline was 2/1/2022):
UTSPS_2022_Guidelines.pdf.
2022 Poetry In the Park & Redrock Creative Writing Seminar
The 11th annual Poetry In the Park (PIP) workshop was held March 4th in Zion National Park Nature Center. Renowned poet, Lola Haskins, led this workshop. See PIP for 2022 workshop details.
Redrock Writers’ 2022 Creative Writing Seminar was held on March 5th. Similarly, details for the 2022 seminar are at redrockwriters.org Annual Writing Seminar.
2021 UTSPS Book of the Year Concert
Michael Parker read from his 2021 Book of the Year, Divining the Spirits in the House of the Hush and Hush, at the October 16th Book Concert as an online reading.
2021 UTSPS April Awards Festival
The UTSPS 2021 poetry contest winners and honorable mentions are now available as a PDF download: UTSPS_2021_Winners_List.pdf.
UTSPS held our 2021 Spring Awards Festival as a fully online event, April 23rd & April 24th. Registration was limited to 100 participants. Priority for registration was for UTSPS members, then non-members who entered the UTSPS 2021 annual contest.
2021 Utah Poetry Festival April 16th – 18th
The 2021 Utah Poetry Festival was held as a fully online event April 16th to 18th. For details, see: Utah Poetry Festival 2021.
NFSPS 2021 Annual Convention
The National Federation of State Poetry Societies held its 2021 annual convention fully online, likely some time in June. See the nfsps.com Convention Information page.
More News
UTSPS New Chapters Formed!
One new chapter has been formed in 2022: Utah Poetry Slam! Two new chapters have been formed in 2017: Hinterland Poets (at large via online) and Willow Wind Poets (Kanab).
NFSPS Contest: BlackBerryPeach Prizes for Poetry: Spoken and Heard
The National Federation of State Poetry Societies hosts a contest for the spoken and heard word. Prizes: 1st Place $1,000, 2nd Place $500, 3rd place $250. Submission period is January 1 to March 15, 2022. Guidelines are at: nfsps.com/BBP3Guidelines.html.
NFSPS Quarterly Strophes Newsletter Available
See nfsps.com for the Strophes Online link for the latest issue.
UTSPS Blog
For the new UTSPS blog, go to utahpoetry.blogspot.com. See UTSPS members featured, each with a short bio, photo, and poem.
Other News
UTSPS members may list their recent poetry publications along with info on how to purchase. See the Publications page for current listings and directions on how to submit publications to be listed.
UTSPS Book of the Year info added to the Publications section.