Poets of the Decade
We are excited to honor the following ten poets, who have amassed the most total award “points” in the IBPC competitions over the last decade. Points were determined by adding 12 points for each winner, 9 points for each 2nd place, 8 points for each 3rd place, and 6 points for each HM, or Special Mention. The grand total for each poet is the sum of all the monthly competitions, plus the poem of the year and the poem of the decade competitions.
1. Laurie Byro (224 points)
2. Laurel K. Dodge (116)
3. Sarah J. Sloat (112)
4. Jim Zola (109)
5. Bernard Henrie (99)
6. Brenda Levy Tate (97)
7. Catherine Rogers (86)
8. Christopher T. George (80)
9. Jude Goodwin (75)
10. TE Ballard (73)
The following is a list of all the individual poems for each poet in the list. Congratulations to these top ten, as well as all the other poets who have participated in the competition over the years.
Laurie Byro
- HM for Melic Roundtable, June 2002: Details
- 1st Place for Melic Roundtable, November 2002: The Difference
- 2nd Place for Wild Poetry Forum, January 2003: Visiting his Aunt, Christmas 2002 (Green Holly Man)
- 3rd Place for Melic Roundtable, March 2004: Vagrancy
- 1st Place for Wild Poetry Forum, August 2004; then 2nd Place for 2004-05 Poem of the Year; then Special Mention for Poem of the Decade: with Ivan Waters, Penelope and the Bird Man
- 1st Place for Melic Roundtable, July 2005; then HM for 2005-06 Poem of the Year: The Mandolin
- HM for Desert Moon Review, August 2006: Salt
- 1st Place for About Poetry Forum, September 2006: Silver Apples
- 1st Place for Desert Moon Review, January 2007; then 3rd Place for 2006-07 Poem of the Year: Wolf Dreams
- HM for Desert Moon Review, February 2007: The Rival
- 1st Place for About Poetry Forum, March 2007: The Bird Artists
- HM for Desert Moon Review, June 2007: Rapunzel at 49 Learns to Dance the Tarantella
- HM for Desert Moon Review, December 2007: My Mother’s Bones
- HM for About Poetry Forum, February 2008: Stoma
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, August 2008; then 2nd Place for 2008-09 Poem of the Year; then Special Mention for Poem of the Decade: Living in the Body of a Firefly
- HM for Desert Moon Review, September 2008: Snake Song
- 3rd Place for Desert Moon Review, January 2009: Dinner With the Ghost of Rilke
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, February 2009; then 3rd Place for 2008-09 Poem of the Year: Virginia Sings Back To the Stones In Her Pockets
- HM for Desert Moon Review, July 2009: Der Busant
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, September 2009: The Secret Life
Laurel K. Dodge
- HM for Gumball, July 2000: Gaps
- HM for The Writers Block, January 2001: Ride
- HM for The Writers Block, February 2001: Modern Art
- HM for Melic Roundtable, August 2001: The Pursuit of Light
- 2nd Place for The Writers Block, July 2004: Inside Out
- HM for The Writers Block, February 2003: A Synonym for Stoic
- 1st Place for Melic Roundtable, December 2003: The Dead Girl Talks Back
- 2nd Place for The Writers Block, July 2004: Wintering
- HM for The Writers Block, November 2004: Memento Mori
- 2nd Place for MiPo, May 2005: Misreading a Dead Woman’s Poem
- HM for The Writers Block, July 2006: Husband and Woman
- 2nd Place for The Writers Block, December 2006: There Once Was a Daughter Who Lived in His Shoe
- HM for MiPo, July 2007: Insatiable
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, April 2009: A Rush of Clouds
- 1st Place for The Writers Block, April 2010: Here With You
Sarah J. Sloat
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, September 2007: Ghazal of the Honed Knife
- 1st Place for Desert Moon Review, July 2004; then 1st Place for 2004-05 Poem of the Year: then Special mention for Poem of the Decade: Grassland
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, April 2005: Sometimes I’m Afraid of Myself
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, December 2005; then 2nd Place for 2005-06 Poem of the Year: Flight
- 1st Place for Desert Moon Review, February 2006: Stovetop
- HM for Wild Poetry Forum, January 2008: Red Cap
- 1st Place for The Waters Poetry Workshop, May 2008: Sunday with Labrador
- 3rd Place for Desert Moon Review, September 2009: On Waking I Think of Winter
- 3rd Place for Desert Moon Review, November 2009: Clothespin
Jim Zola
- 1st Place for Gumball, July 2000; then 3rd Place for 2000-01 Poem of the Year: The Bee-Bearded Man’s Only Son
- 1st Place for Melic Roundtable, January 2001; then 1st Place for 2000-01 Poem of the Year: Voudoun Tale
- HM for Gumball, February 2001: Hard-Boiled
- 3rd Place for Melic Roundtable, April 2001: On Hearing the News of Your Hospitalization, (a CBE for Teresa)
- HM for Melic Roundtable, July 2001: The Morning of My Madness Waking
- 2nd Place for The Writers Block, October 2001: Milosov’s Bumblebees
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, January 2002: Dream Song 911
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, April 2002: Mulligrubs, March
- HM for Melic Roundtable, April 2003: A Somewhat Inexact History of Flowers
- HM for Melic Roundtable, February 2004: With Buster Keaton And Hieronymus Bosch In My Head
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, August 2004: A Poem About Nothing
Bernard Henrie
- HM for Melic Roundtable, December 2004: Manhattan Skyline
- 1st Place for Melic Roundtable, January 2005: Clarinet Redux
- 2nd Place for SplashHall Poetry, September 2006; then 2nd place for 2006-07 Poem of the Year; then Special Mention for Poem of the Decade: The Western Ghats, 1959
- 1st Place for The Writers Block, April 2007: Sparrow
- HM for The Writers Block, July 2007: Winterset
- HM for The Writers Block, September 2007: Bronx Swans
- HM for The Writers Block, February 2008: Black Man Carrying Alligator Briefcase
- HM for Poets.org, July 2008: Drowse
- HM for The Writers Block, August 2008: If Men Wore Lip Paint
- 2nd Place for The Writers Block, July 2009: I am Dying, Afghanistan
- HM for The Waters Poetry Workshop, April 2010: My Neighbor, Only a Name On a Mailbox
Brenda Levy Tate
- 1st Place for criticalpoet.org, May 2004: I No Gone Cat, You Just Not See Me
- 3rd Place for PenShells, March 2007: Show But Never Tell
- 1st Place for PenShells, December 2007: Ruth in Ward 3A Imagines Herself as a Tree
- 1st Place for criticalpoet.org, March 2008; then HM for 2007-08 Poem of the Year: Carol for the Brokenhearted
- 2nd Place for criticalpoet.com, April 2008; then HM for 2007-08 Poem of the Year: Spring Dance
- 1st Place for PenShells, August 2008: Tsunami Prelude
- 3rd Place for PenShells, December 2008: Momento Mori
- 1st Place for PenShells, March 2009: I, Raptor
Catherine Rogers
- 2nd Place for Poets.org, September 2005; then HM for 2005-06 Poem of the Year: Crone
- 3rd Place for Poets.org, November 2005: Before the Storm
- 2nd Place for Poets.org, March 2006; then 1st Place in 2005-06 Poem of the Year: Over Talmadge Bridge
- 1st Place for Poets.org, August 2006; then 1st Place for 2006-07 Poem of the Year, then Special Mention for Poem of the Decade: Dirt
- HM for Poets.org, June 2008: Spirit Catcher
- HM for Poets.org, October 2008: Talk Like a Pirate Day
Christopher T. George
- HM for Melic Roundtable, July 2002: The Waste Land/by Orson Wells
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, April 2003: Guernica by Picasso
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, May 2004: Making Love to the Right Angel
- 2nd Place for Desert Moon Review, February 2005: The Griot of Guantanamo Bay
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, October 2006: Joseph Cony
- HM for Desert Moon Review, December 2007: Mersey Mersey Me
- 2nd Place for FreeWrights Peer Review, January 2009: First Frost
- HM for FreeWrights Peer Review, May 2009: Dad Never Read Novels
- 1st Place for The Writers Block, July 2009: The Day the Egrets Came Calling
- HM for FreeWrights Peer Review, October 2009: Bills and Yet More Bills
Jude Goodwin
- 3rd Place for South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, May 2005: Remission
- 3rd Place for South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, July 2005: Murderers
- 1st Place for South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, September 2005: The Chewer
- HM for South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, April 2006: At the Art Gallery, A Woman
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, February 2007: The crying girl
- 1st Place for The Waters Poetry Workshop, January 2010; then 2nd Place for 2009-10 Poem of the Year: Eureka Springs
- 1st Place for The Waters Poetry Workshop, February 2010: What
TE Ballard
- 1st Place for The Sharpened Word, January 2002: The Butcher’s Daughter
- HM for Blueline Poetry, March 2002: The Song of Rock Stars
- 3rd Place for Wild Poetry Forum, August 2002: Impossible Grace
- HM for MiPo, September 2002: Early Hours of Sky
- HM for Wild Poetry Forum, March 2003: Albumin
- 2nd Place for Wild Poetry Forum, June 2003: Letter To My Sister
- 1st Place for Wild Poetry Forum, November 2003: Sacrifice, Leaves and Whippoorwills
- HM for The Writers Block, February 2005: Hard, Unmovable Body
- 3rd Place for The Writers Block, April 2005: Definition
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August 2022 Winners
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First Place
Sodom by the Sea
by Ken Ashworth
The Writer's Block
Second Place
Good Omens
by Christine Potter
The Waters
Third Place
Isaac and the Apple
by Rus Bowden
Babilu
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July 2022 Winners
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First Place
striking a match in an empty house
by Billy Howell-Sinnard
The Waters
Second Place
My Soul to Keep
by Jim Doss
Babilu
Third Place
Li Po Adrift
by Bob Bradshaw
The Writer's Block
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