Dogfish Head Poetry Prize winner announced
For her manuscript, “Birds of New Jersey,” Susan Rothbard of Fairfield, N.J., has been named the winner of the 2020 Dogfish Head Poetry Prize.
Her award consists of publication of her manuscript by Broadkill River Press, 10 copies of the published book, $500 in prize money, two cases of Dogfish Head beer and a two-night stay at the Dogfish Inn.
Rothbard earned her master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a doctorate from Drew University. She is a retired English and creative writing teacher, and the first resident of New Jersey to win the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize.
The judge for this year’s contest was Edgar Kunz, author of “Tap Out, ”and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He teaches at Goucher College and in the master of fine arts program at Salve Regina University.
Kunz said, “In the cadences of everyday speech, the poems of ‘Birds of New Jersey’ struggle and yearn and transform the ordinary ... into lyrics of remarkable complexity.”
Due to the pandemic, there was no presentation party. Rothbard will claim her Dogfish Inn stay later in the year.
Finalists for this year’s contest are Kathryn Howd Machan, New York, for “Fox"; Nicole Greaves, Pennsylvania, for “Having Witnessed the Illusion"; Martin Willitts Jr., New York, for “All Beautiful Things Need Not Fly"; Adam Tamashasky, Maryland, for “Meteor: Poems"; Angela Gregory-Dribben, Virginia, for “Everygirl"; Sally Zakariya, Virginia, for “The Instability of All Things"; Mary Switalski, Maryland, for “Expeditions"; Peter Blair, North Carolina, for “River or Fog"; and C.L. Bledsoe. Virginia, for “Close Enough to Perfect Light.”
The Dogfish Head Poetry Prize enters its 19th year in 2021. It was created by Jamie Brown of Broadkill River Press and Sam Calagione, CEO of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Distillery, and a literature major in college.
The contest is open to residents of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and the District of Columbia. Publication of the winning manuscript is supported by the Cape Gazette.
“Birds of New Jersey” can be ordered from broadkillriverpress.com.
