- FSPA FREE VERSE AWARD Sponsored by FSPA, Inc.
Subject: Any Form: Free Verse
1st: An Aged World Speaks I have been old for a very long time – Mary Rogers-Grantham
2nd: The Moon and the Sea The sea, they say, was once in love with the moon – James Lillefors
3rd: I Will Keep This Day Adam translated from old Persian means I am – Shutta Crum
1hm: Hattie Hayes I gaze skyward, envious of Earth’s ever-evolving top – Melody Dean Dimick
2hm: Not Only Love Can Break Your Heart A map of the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from beloved Espana – Holly Mandelkern
3hm: Second Hand Dreams Dad ran a pawn shop with his brother in Jacksonville – Holly Mandelkern - FSPA FORMAL VERSE AWARD Sponsored by FSPA, Inc.
Subject: Any Form: Formal Verse
1st: Du Bist Nicht Besser Above the Elbe, above the road – Mark Andrew James Terry
2nd: Spring Greetings With winter’s wane, I welcome spring to bring – Sara Gipson
3rd: On Talking About Abraham Sutzkever… In speaking of the power of his words – Holly Mandelkern
1hm: This Is What I Bring If night should come and find me at my toil – Janet Watson
2hm: The Dunes Along the dunes, I walk to calm my mind – Diane Neff
3hm: Mountain Life We hiked the Appalachian trail – Jerri Hardesty - THE LIVE POETS SOCIETY AWARD Sponsored by The Live Poets Society of Daytona Beach
Subject: The Dark Side. Form: Any
1st: Dark Envy It creeps in slowly – covering like an invisible -Susan Stahr
2nd: Cult Eyes of youth are veiled by hunger – Diane Neff
3rd: Close Call: A Memory When families do bad things to little girls – Lynn Schiffhorst
1hm: When TV Was New When my sister was itty-bitty – Claire Massey
2hm: Parties In The Woods Unzip my pants; I hold my breath – Darianna DiStefano
3hm: Looking Backwards I often saw him at the dance – Elaine Person - TOMOKA POETS AWARD Sponsored by Tomoka Poets
Subject: At the Beach. Form: Any
1st: Ocean Wish I smell the salty water of the sea – Jerri Hardesty
2nd: Holding Hands With Strangers My daughters dredge all manner of relics – Marianne Peel
3rd: Childhood Memories of the Beach When I was young and played in sand – Mary Ellen Orvis
1hm: Beach Bonfire Sparks rose in the heat-fueled air – Diane Neff
2hm: The Call to Courage He filled his mind with Shakespeare’s biting power – Holly Mandelkern
3hm: Broken Heart I pace along this sandy beach – Sara Gipson - WILLARD B. FOSTER MEMORIAL AWARD Sponsored by John Foster
Subject: A Reversal of Fortune. Form: Any
1st: Another Lucky Day It was a stroke of – Lisa Kamolnick
2nd: In the Mulch She finds things in the mulch – Robyn Weinbaum
3rd: Eternity It only takes a single second – Lee Fanning Hall
1hm: Ticket to Ride After a lifetime of making it through – Jerri Hardesty
2hm: Petals at Toes When we fought – Sara Gipson
3hm: I Irritate Him I irritate my husband – Carolynn J. Scully - THE JOCK G. AND GEORGE K. TERRY AWARD Sponsored by Mark Andrew James Terry
Subject: Any. Form: Any
1st: The Closing of the Year When the year is closing – Beverly A. Joyce
2nd: Daddy’s Pick-Me-Up Truck The ramblin’ relic was daddy’s – Carolynn J. Scully
3rd: Listen To the Pines Singing If you listen closely – Dr. Emory D. Jones
1hm: It’s the Usual Affair Coors, or Cokes, in cup holder – Shutta Crum
2hm: Jazz At Night For jazz I go inside a darkened joint – Sara Gipson
3hm: Impression Walking over the bridge – Laura Rutherford - JUNE OWENS MEMORIAL AWARD Sponsored by New River Poets
Subject: Squinting into the sun. Form: Any
1st: I Saw the Light The sun is blinding, even though it – Fred Briggs
2nd: Bowls of Summer From My Grandmother’s Garden It’s June -Tanya Young
3rd: The Squint The thing I remember about – Mary McAllister
1hm: Hereafter Driving west – Daniel B.Pickett
2hm: Rain Through Painted Glass Thin scratch in the paint-covered window – Robyn Weinbaum
3hm: Looking Into the Light I’m pacing the platform, alternately glancing at your last – Amy Hadley - NEW RIVER POETS AWARD Sponsored by New River Poets (In Honor of our Deceased Members)
Subject: Any. Form: Any
1st: Epilogue It will be leaning – Lisa Kamolnick
2nd: When I Die, Remember Me… Remember me not for the missteps– Shani Naeema
3rd: Painful Play on Words aLONE with my thoughts – Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
1hm: Memory I peered into her window – Laura Rutherford
2hm: Honoring A Lost Shepherd Look for metaphor overhead, scribble an elegy in the sky – Melody Dean Dimick
3hm: Frame of Reference There is poison ivy – Jerri Hardesty - THE POET’S VISION AWARD Sponsored by Janet Watson
Subject: Faith, Spirituality. Form: Any
1st: As Above, So Below As above, so below – Shani Naeema
2nd: O Magnum Mysterium Song swept you up one Christmas – Eve Sharon Scholl
3rd: Energy and Mass A teen he leaned toward Latin dance – Holly Mandelkern
1hm: Things That Matter What is it that truly matters? – Kenice Broughman
2hm: The Longest Night Darkness, too – Dargan M. Ware
3hm: Faith My Melody – Dean Dimick - ALFRED VON BROKOPH AWARD Sponsored by G. Kyra Von Brokoph
Subject: A family member. Form: Any lyrical
1st: The Illegals, A Hundred Years Ago Somewhere near a square stone cottage – Dargan M. Ware
2nd: Family Art No one ever says you have my eyes – Lisa Kamolnick
3rd: Tears of Joy He says, “I love you,” for the first time, and she cries – Amy Hadley
1hm: In the Silence of the House Clocks tiptoe forward – Shutta Crum
2hm: Mother’s Strawberry Moon Under the flowering dogwood – Mary Ellen Orvis
3hm: The Woodsman My brother-in-law lived in a house in the woods – Ann Favreau - JANET BINKLEY ERWIN MEMORIAL AWARD Sponsored by Poetry for the Love of It (PLOI)
Subject: Any. Form: Any
1st: Pomegranates, Avocadoes, and Figs: I am not the Syrian boy who washed onto the shore – Marianne Peel
2nd: The Many Faces of Eve Today my mother loses hours – Tanya Young
3rd: Taking Advantage of the Back Pocket Nothing as discreet – Catherine Moran
1hm: Babyusa’s Loss Babyusa is gripping an orthodox cross – Mark Andrew James Terry
2hm: Elegy for a Bubble As I squeezed – Marlene Kann
3hm: Nothing is Permanent Walking an indoor track, I watch a thin – Holly Mandelkern - ANCIENT CITY POETS AWARD Sponsored by Ancient City Poets
Subject: St. Augustine speaks. Form: Any
1st: Treasure Chest St. Augustine Florida speaks -Cheryl A. Van Beek
2nd: Insight “I’m not going to learn to play the guitar” – Holly Mandelkern
3rd: St. Augustine: A City Speaks The cannons are silent now – Jerri Hardesty
1hm: The New People Strange objects appear like knots – Janet Watson
2hm: St. Augustine Speaks Spirits frequent Florida’s oldest city – Melody Dean Dimick
3hm: Fountain of Youth Like many others I join – Sara Gipson - HENRIETTA & MARK KROAH FOUNDERS AWARD (Free to FSPA Members) Sponsored by FSPA, Inc.
Subject: Wedding. Form: Any
1st: On Our Grandson’s Wedding In nature’s grand cathedral you stood true – Angie Mayo
2nd: Symphonic Cruise Through Smetana’s My Fatherland We board his tone poem in the Bohemian forest – Cheryl A. Van Beek
3rd: Bride of Circumstance Behold the drive to live lives on – Holly Mandelkern
1hm: Shotgun Wedding A teary-eyed bride – Ruth Van Alstine
2hm: Ruba’I of a Husband’s Recollection As brush a front-yard garden rose – Mark Andrew James Terry
3hm: To Have and To Hold I am pulled by long-ago secrets – Tanya Young - PAST PRESIDENTS AWARD Sponsored by Past Presidents of FSPA
Subject: Any. Form: Any
1st: Metamorphosis I tripped over an idea – Jerri Hardesty
2nd: Interior Decorating When my walls are in place – Sonja Jean Craig
3rd: Fire In the Strings Footlights glint off – Susan Stahr
1hm: String Carefully I carried – Alexandra Penn Williams
2hm: Surviving Foolish Whims Like an unpleasant co-worker – John Michael Sears
3hm: Music Moves I close my eyes – Carolynn J. Scully - ORLANDO AREA POETS AWARD Sponsored by Orlando Area Poets
Subject: Animals. Form: Any
1st: While I Sleep The deer always come – Janet Watson
2nd: The Crow Pulling weeds outside my kitchen – Lynn Schiffhorst
3rd: All Things Great and Small Blessed be Kyrylo, the Zookeeper – Marianne Peel
1hm: Ducks in the Backyard Memory waddles in under – Lorraine Jeffery
2hm: Morning On My Ranch Honeysuckle breezes in – Mary Ellen Orvis
3hm: Birds Fly Small birds fly – Carolynn J. Scully - LESLIE HALPERN MEMORIAL AWARD Sponsored by Orlando Area Poets
Subject: Dreams/dreaming. Form: Any
1st: Dreams My husband knows I’m a cloud watching romantic Melody – Dean Dimick
2nd: Only a Dream I turn and see him – Lorraine Jeffery
3rd: Fledgling Ungainly, at first, like a crane or heron – Shutta Crum
1hm: Dimensions At the kids’ new house – Barry A. Dimick
2hm: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Each night we gather actors for a play – Diane Neff
3hm: Dreams of My Father Last night I saw my father – Carlton Johnson - HUMOR AWARD Sponsored by Sunshine Poets
Subject: Humor. Form: Any Rhymed & Metered
1st: John Donne’s Sermon On the End of the World… When the last angel has blown the last horn -Lynn Schiffhorst
2nd: Toucans Are Better Than One As a young toucan munched on a pecan – Kenneth P. Hughes
3rd: Sparkle A disco ball is mostly made – Jerri Hardesty
1hm: Living In the Moment I’m living in the moment – Holly Mandelkern
2hm: Mating Season An old goat on a mountain replied – Sara Gipson
3hm: Weather Spring is here – Linda Whitefeather - CHILDHOOD AWARD Sponsored by Marc Davidson
Subject: Children reading, writing or both. Form: Any.
1st: Dreaming Up Ideas He examines the past – Holly Mandelkern
2nd: The Imperative of the Impulse The girl dragged the small rowboat – Jerri Hardesty
3rd: Never Teach a Cat to Read When I was six, mom read to me -Sarah E. Morin
1hm: Summer Sanctuary, 1960 In the air-conditioned children’s section – Claire Massey - WEINBAUM/GLIDDEN AWARD Sponsored by Robyn Weinbaum
Subject: Issues and concerns faced by LGBTQ Community and those who love them. Form: Any
1st: Yes, Monsters Do Exist Just last week – Jerri Hardesty
2nd: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell What do you mean I can’t defend my state – Marc Davidson
3rd: Her She thought we didn’t love her – Rebecca J. Johnston
1hm: What the Sky Does The sky weeps as souls – Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
2hm: Falling In Love With David In childhood, he was lonely – Janet Watson
3hm: Existential Rainbow We are an existential rainbow filled with color and with life – Chris Kastle - THE IRWIN & ESTELLE WEINBAUM AWARD Sponsored by Robyn Weinbaum
Subject: ‘Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue!’ A poem on justice, law, civil disobedience, legal issues, SCOTUS, revolution, contracts, taxes.
Form: Any Formal: sonnet, villanelle, quatrains, abcdarian, etc.
1st: Unhoused The cardboard roof of the lean-to shack – Mary Ellen Orvis
2nd: Notorious So this is how the legend truly goes – Jerri Hardesty
3rd: Talmud Torah Rabbi tells us, the Talmud is a sea – Peter M. Gordon
1hm: The False Prophet “Drain the swamp!” the serpent says – Daniel B. Pickett
2hm: Pilate’s Questioning What, then, is “justice” when all’s said and done – Marc Davidson
3hm: Suffragette Success Their men and husbands thought that life was fine – Sara Gipson - THE ENCHANTMENT AWARD Sponsored by Sonja Jean Craig
Subject: Paranormal, Fantasy, SciFi. Form: Any
1st: If You Could Read My Mind She glides her puple sequined nail across my palm – Marianne Peel
2nd: The Passing of the Ages What if the universe ends – Dargan Ware
3rd: Outer Space Every night I perform the same routine – Carlton Johnson
1hm: The man in the moon asked me to marry him said if the dish & the spoon can run away – Amy Hadley
2hm: Venus Flytrap Stuff of horror movies and dinner shows. Moved me – Nancy K. Hauptle MacInnis
3hm: Alicia’s Quilt One day Alicia decided to make a quilt – Ellen Nielsen - EKPHRASTIC POEM AWARD Sponsored by Elaine Person
Subject: An Ekphrastic Poem inspired by a painting, photograph, sculpture or other piece of visual art. Include name of piece, artist, and where seen if applicable. Form: Any
1st: Shades of Opening Night The theater stirs, aglow – Lisa Kamolnick
2nd: Dancing with the Devil’s Diagonals Mondrian would have loved – Dargan Ware
3rd: Fractal Worlds Not here – Gisele Marasca-Vargas
1hm: unBecoming Maybe fresh flowers – Nancy Dohn
2hm: Picture Perfect She’s holding the white dove – Jerri Hardesty
3hm: Girl With Black Eye I watch her sitting there and I’m amazed – Janice Canerdy - NORTH FLORIDA POETRY HUB AWARD Sponsored by Hope at Hand/NFPH
Subject: Hope. Form: Any
1st: Parable of the Rock Severed from its ancestral mountain – Janet Watson
2nd: Conversation in the Service Lounge “How many pills do you take?” – Peter M. Gordon
3rd: Hopes Dashed The way he closed the door – Suzanne S. Austin-Hill1
1hm: Where Woods Now Edge a River I walk where woods now edge a river trail – Sara Gipson
2hm: Blessed be the one – Lorraine Jeffery
3hm: Spoonful of Hope Reluctant to revisit Warsaw’s Ghetto but more afraid to forget – Holly Mandelkern - THE LOOK DEEPER AWARD Sponsored by Suzanne Austin-Hill
Subject: Why you admire a poem (other than your own). Form: Sacred Seven. Give credit to the other author
1st: Lonely Torn between sanity and her craft – Mary Ellen Orvis
2nd: Somewhere I had never traveled either Seeing myself, too, as fragile as a closed rosebud – Holly Mandelkern
3rd: Dover Beach (Matthew Arnold) As the world hurries on – Marc Davidson
1hm: A Tree to Climb I doubt that I shall ever break free – Melody Dean Dimick
2hm: Ode to a Whitman Poem I remember when I first read Whitman – Jerri Hardesty
3hm: A Truth About Seas The sea invites stares like a lover’s gaze – Sara Gipson - THE JOSEPHINE DAVIDSON MEMORIAL AWARD Sponsored by Live Poets Society of Daytona Beach
Subject: Any. Form: Ruba’i—4 lines, iambic pentameter, minimum 3 stanzas, rhyme aaba/bbcb/ccdc etc. Third line of final stanza must rhyme with first line of poem
1st: In a Churchyard, County Sligo I trace the name across the ancient stone -Dargan M. Ware
2nd: Legendary Ruins Strolling through ruins on an autumn day -Melody Dean Dimick
3rd: The Brook Awakens A morning paddle down a hidden brook -Diane Neff
1hm: Rejection Direction I went to job hunt down in Winter Park -Elaine Person
2hm: Current Information My current household is now full of stuff Marc Davidson
3hm: Shaking Stress My feet now race on sand along this shore Sara Gipson - THE BOOK NOT THE COVER AWARD Sponsored by Tim Schulz
Subject: The hidden beauty in nature or humankind. Form: Any
1st: Haibun for the Emerald Coast Waves of coke-bottle green – Andrea Jones Walker
2nd: The Trout Muscles propel through patches of warm light – Shutta Crum
3rd: First Glimpse Standing on the edge – Lorraine Jeffery
1hm: Haiku Caterpillar climbs – Angie M. Mayo
2hm: For the Sequestered Poet Each day creates its – Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
3hm: The Local Grouch He grumbled and groused -Jerri Hardesty - THE HOMEPLACE AWARD Sponsored by Mark Andrew James Terry
Subject: Homeplace. Form: Any
1st: Home Home is a dark bar at 2 a.m. – Peter M. Gordon
2nd: The Sounds of Home From the 1st snap of the carpenter’s – Bruce Woodworth
3rd: Homeplace I close my eyes, and am transported – Melody Dean Dimick
1hm: Returning Wearing gratitude’s shoes – Lorraine Jeffery
2hm: Homestead I’m the dead-end house – Darianna DiStefano
3hm: Christmas Eve Over the river and through the woods – Daniel B. Pickett - THE SUNCOAST WRITERS GUILD POETRY POD AWARD Sponsored by Suncoast Writers Guild
Subject: Old Florida. Form: Any
1st: In Old Key West Where fences met in corners – Janet Watson
2nd: Back Then It was a time when – Tanya Young
3rd: Ghost Towns No longer home to – Mary Ellen Orvis
1hm: Today The aged garden gate – Jerri Hardesty
2hm Orlando Tough to put roots down in a transient town – Peter M. Gordon
3hm: Cracker Life Against a red sunset Bruce Woodworth - THE NORTHWEST FLORIDA POETS AWARD Sponsored by CHB Publications.
Subject: Into the Wild. NOTE: Poems must feature a wild creature and explore cultural, mythical, natural or human symbolism. Form: Any 1st: Hawks I watched a pair of hawks one summer day – Ellen Nielsen
2nd: You Watch Those Shows Hosted by David Attenborough You know it is the nature of the beast to stalk his prey – Amy Hadley
3rd: Morning With the Swans At dawn, astride the lakeside edge – Mark Andrew James Terry
1hm: They Call Me Coyote They call me coyote – Daniel B. Pickett
2hm: Turning Hawk A shrill cry ravages the day – Shutta Crum
3hm: Cost Prohibitive Two miles from the shoddy new housing development – Claire Massey
Stay tuned for a link to purchase your copy of the 2025 Cadence anthology.