AWARDS & PRIZES


2010 OBOH PRIZE WINNERS

Final Judge: Jon Pineda

     1st Place:    "Elegy Reserved for Future Use" by Chris Hayes
     2nd Place:  "Gun of Wishes," by Vievee Francis
     3rd Place:   "Harvest" by Melissa Barrett

Jon Pineda was our 2010 Oboh Prize judge. His latest book, Sleep in Me (a memoir), is a Library Journal "Best Books of 2010" Selection and a Publishers Weekly "Indie Sleepers" Selection. He is the author of the poetry collections The Translator's Diary, winner of the 2007 Green Rose Prize for Poetry, and Birthmark, winner of the 2003 Crab Orchard Award Series in Poetry Open Competition. A recipient of a Virginia Commission for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, he is a graduate of James Madison University and of the MFA program in creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received an AWP Intro Award for Poetry. His recent work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Sou’wester and various anthologies.


How Oboh Prize Works

  • At the end of the year, the list of finalists and Peer Award winners will be handed off to a respected external judge who will choose the top three poems of the year. The judge will read and make his/her decisions through a blind reading -- all personal information will be withheld. After coming to his/her decisions, the judge will notify the staff of Boxcar Poetry Review who in turn will contact the winning poets and arrange for the prize moneys to be sent to them.
  • By following this format, we can reward more poets and give each contributor a voice in this process. We feel that by rejecting the traditional contest model and relying on a combination of peer review and an external judge, this process empowers poets, artists, and reviewers and allows them to reward and recognize the work they admire.
  • 1st Place - $500; 2nd Place - $250; 3rd Place - $100


2011 BOXCAR PEER AWARD WINNERS

Winning poems are listed here. The two runners up for each issue are included in the full listing of contenders for the Oboh Prize (see below).

How Boxcar Poetry Review's Peer Award System Works

  • Each contributor (past and present) can nominate 3 poems from the current issue as the "best of the issue" (it's easy, just pick your three favorites). If you have a poem in the current issue, we will assume you are using one of your votes for yourself, please nominate one additional poem (for a total of 3).
  • Votes are tallied at the end of the month and the poem with the most votes is announced the first week of the following month.
  • The author of the winning poem will be awarded $25 and the poem will be indicated as having won a Peer Award.
  • The top three poems from each issue will be added to a list of finalists for the Oboh Prize. This means, that even if your poem is not chosen for a Peer Award, there is still a possibility that it could win the year-end prize. By the end of the year, there should be 12 finalists total, not including possible ties.




2011 OBOH FINALISTS



Boxcar Poetry Review - ISSN 1931-1761